Benjamin Constant

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This article is about the European writer and politician. For other people and places, see Benjamin Constant (disambiguation).

Benjamin Constant
Napoleon I
Member of the Tribunat
In office
25 December 1799 – 27 March 1802
ConstituencyLéman
Personal details
Born
Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque

(1767-10-25)25 October 1767
romantic love
Literary movementRomanticism, classical liberalism[2]
Years active1792–1830
Notable works
  • Principes de Politique Applicables a Tous les Gouvernements (1810)
  • Adolphe
(1816)
  • De la religion considérée dans sa source, ses formes et son développement (1824–30)

    • Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (French: [kɔ̃stɑ̃]; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion.

    A committed republican from 1795, he backed the coup d'état of

    Chamber of Deputies of France, as a proponent of the parliamentary system. During the July Revolution, he was a supporter of Louis Philippe I
    ascending the throne.

    Besides his numerous essays on political and religious themes, Constant also wrote on romantic love. His autobiographical Le Cahier rouge (1807) gives an account of his love for

    Madame de Staël, whose protégé and collaborator he became, especially in the Coppet circle, and a successful novella, Adolphe (1816), are good examples of his work on this topic.[3]

    He was a fervent

    November uprising in Poland, the Belgian Revolution, and liberalism in Brazil and Mexico.[citation needed
    ]

    Biography

    Henri-Benjamin Constant was born in

    Andrew Duncan and was befriended by James Mackintosh and Malcolm Laing.[7][8]
    When he left the city, he promised to pay back his gambling debts.

    In 1787, he returned to continental Europe, travelling on horseback through

    Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel that required him to move north. He left the court when the War of the First Coalition
    began in 1792.

    In

    Talleyrand. Their intellectual collaboration between 1795 and 1811 made them one of the most celebrated intellectual couples of the time.[10]

    Paris

    Jouxtens-Mézery, Grosse Grange

    After the

    Napoleon Bonaparte to the Tribunat, despite grave reservations on the latter's part. Eventually, in 1802, the first consul confirmed in his doubts, forced Constant to withdraw because of the tenor of his speeches and his close connection with Mme de Staël.[11]

    Constant became acquainted with Julie Talma, the salonnière wife of actor François-Joseph Talma, who wrote many letters to him of compelling human interest.[12]

    In 1800, the

    libel
    suit instigated by Napoleon – then First Consul of France. Mackintosh's speech was widely published in English and also across Europe in a French translation by Madame de Staël. She was forced to leave Paris as a result.

    De Staël, disappointed by French

    Tuileries to set up changes for the Charter of 1815
    .

    After the

    Chamber of Deputies, the lower legislative house of the Restoration-era government. One of its most eloquent orators, he became a leader of the parliamentary bloc first known as the Independents and later as "liberals". He became an opponent of Charles X of France during the Restoration
    between 1815 and 1830.[15]

    In 1822, Goethe praised Constant in the following terms:

    I spent many instructive evenings with Benjamin Constant. Whoever recollects what this excellent man accomplished in [later] years, and with what zeal he advanced without wavering along the path which, once chosen, was forever followed, realizes what noble aspirations, as yet undeveloped, were fermenting within him.[16]

    A

    Père Lachaise cemetery.[18]

    Political philosophy

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    Related topics
    Isabelle de Charrière, a Dutch-Swiss intellectual with whom Constant conducted an extensive correspondence
    Main article: The Liberty of Ancients Compared with that of Moderns

    Ancient and modern freedom

    One of the first thinkers to go by the name of "liberal", Constant looked to Britain rather than to ancient Rome for a practical model of freedom in a large mercantile society. He drew a distinction between the "Liberty of the Ancients" and the "Liberty of the Moderns".[19] The Liberty of the Ancients was a participatory republican liberty, which gave the citizens the right to influence politics directly through debates and votes in the public assembly.[19] To support this degree of participation, citizenship was a burdensome moral obligation requiring a considerable investment of time and energy. Generally, this required a sub-society of slaves to do much of the productive work, leaving the citizens free to deliberate on public affairs. Ancient Liberty was also limited to relatively small and homogenous male societies, in which they could be conveniently gathered together in one place to transact public affairs.[19]

    The Liberty of the Moderns, in contrast, was based on the possession of civil liberties, the rule of law, and freedom from excessive state interference. Direct participation would be limited: a necessary consequence of the size of modern states, and also the inevitable result of having created a mercantile society in which there were no slaves but almost everybody had to earn a living through work. Instead, the voters would elect representatives, who would deliberate in Parliament on behalf of the people and would save citizens from daily political involvement.[19]

    Critique of the French Revolution

    He criticised several aspects of the French Revolution, and the failures of the social and political upheaval. He stated how the French attempted to apply ancient republican liberties to a modern state. Constant realized that freedom meant drawing a line between a person's private life and that of state interference.[20] He praised the noble spirit of regenerating the state. However, he stated that it was naïve for writers to believe that two thousand years had not brought some changes in the customs and needs of the people. The dynamics of the state had changed. Ancient populations paled in comparison to the size of modern countries. He even argued that with a large population, man had no role in government regardless of its form or type. Constant emphasised how citizens in ancient states found more satisfaction in the public sphere and less in their private lives whereas modern people favoured their private life.

    Constant's repeated denunciation of

    Ancien Régime
    , and organised the most absolute despotism in the name of the Republic. He continually condemned despotism, citing the contradiction of a liberty derived from despotism, and the vacuous nature of this ideology.

    Furthermore, he pointed out the detrimental nature of the

    mob mentality
    deterred many right thinking people and helped to usher in despots such as Napoleon.

    Commerce preferable to war

    Moreover, Constant believed that, in the modern world, commerce was superior to war. He attacked Napoleon's belligerence, on the grounds that it was illiberal and no longer suited to modern commercial social organization. Ancient Liberty tended to rely on war, whereas a state organized on the principles of Modern Liberty would tend to be at peace with all other peaceful nations.

    Painting by Marguerite Gérard, Mme de Staël et sa fille (around 1805); de Staël was Constant's partner and intellectual collaborator
    Charlotte von Hardenberg, Constant's second, "secret" wife
    Alexandre-Evariste Fragonard
    Juliette Récamier was a friend and intellectual correspondent of Constant

    Constant believed that if liberty were to be salvaged from the aftermath of the Revolution, then the chimera of Ancient Liberty had to be reconciled with the practical to achieve Modern Liberty. England, since the

    Glorious Revolution of 1688, and the United Kingdom after 1707, had demonstrated the practicality of Modern Liberty and Britain was a constitutional monarchy. Constant concluded that constitutional monarchy was better suited than republicanism to maintaining Modern Liberty. He was instrumental in drafting the "Acte Additional" of 1815, which transformed Napoleon's restored rule into a modern constitutional monarchy.[23]
    This was only to last for "One Hundred Days" before Napoleon was defeated, but Constant's work nevertheless provided a means of reconciling monarchy with liberty. Indeed, the French Constitution (or Charter) of 1830 could be seen as a practical implementation of many of Constant's ideas: a hereditary monarchy existing alongside an elected Chamber of Deputies and a senatorial Chamber of Peers, with the executive power vested in responsible ministers. Thus, although often ignored in France, because of his Anglo-Saxon sympathies, Constant succeeded in contributing in a profound (albeit indirect) way to French constitutional traditions.

    Constitutional monarchy

    Secondly, Constant developed a new theory of constitutional monarchy, in which royal power was intended to be a neutral power, protecting, balancing and restraining the excesses of the other active powers (the executive, legislature, and judiciary). This was an advance on the prevailing theory in the English-speaking world, which, following the opinion of William Blackstone, the 18th-century English jurist, had regarded the King as head of the executive branch.[citation needed] In Constant's scheme, the executive power would be entrusted to a Council of Ministers (or Cabinet) who, although appointed by the King, were ultimately accountable to Parliament. In making this clear theoretical distinction between the powers of the King (as head of state) and the ministers (as Executive), Constant was responding to the political reality which had become apparent in Britain for more than a century: that is, the ministers, and not the King, are responsible actors, and the King "reigns but does not rule". This was important for the development of parliamentary government in France and elsewhere. The King was not to be a powerless cipher in Constant's scheme. He would have many powers, including the power to make judicial appointments, to dissolve the Chamber and call new elections, to appoint the peers, and to dismiss ministers – but he would not be able to govern, make policy, or direct the administration, since that would be the task of the responsible ministers. This theory was literally applied in Brazil (1824) and Portugal (1826), where the King/Emperor was explicitly given "Moderating Powers" in addition to the executive power. Elsewhere (for example, the 1848 "Statuto albertino" of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which later became the basis of the Italian constitution from 1861) the executive power was notionally vested in the King, but was exercised only by the responsible ministers.

    He advocated the separation of powers as a basis for a liberal State, but unlike Montesquieu and most of the liberal thinkers, he advocated five powers instead of three. They were:

    1. the Monarch or Moderator,
    2. the Executive,
    3. the Representative Power of Opinion,
    4. the Representative Power of Tradition and
    5. the
      Judiciary
      .

    Thus the Moderating Power was a monarch, a type of judge, who was not part of government, but served as a neutral power to the government, the Executive Power was vested in the ministers that the monarch appointed and they were, collectively, the

    Legislative power, with the Representative Power of Opinion being an elected body to represent the opinion of the citizenry and the Representative Power of Tradition was a hereditary House of Peers and the judiciary was similar to the Montesquieu's Judicial Power.[24]

    Constant's other concerns included a "new type of federalism": a serious attempt to decentralize French government through the devolution of powers to elected municipal councils. This proposal reached fruition in 1831, when elected municipal councils (albeit on a narrow franchise) were created.

    Imperialism and conquest

    Constant was an opponent of imperialism and conquest, denouncing French colonial policy in the West Indies and elsewhere as racist, unjust, and a violation of basic principles of human equality. He supported an extension of civil and political rights to non-white colonial subjects. He supported the Haitian revolution, and argued that the institutions set up by Haitians were evidence that non-Europeans could found institutions equivalent to those of Europeans. He was a staunch proponent of Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire.[25]

    Comparative religion

    Aside from his political and literary output, Constant spent forty years working on religion and religious feeling. His publications demonstrate his desire to grasp this social phenomenon inherent to human nature, which, in whatever forms it may present, is always a search for

    perfectibility
    . If its manifestations become rigid, splitting becomes inevitable. Thus, however religious feeling may present, it needs to adapt and evolve.

    Constant is adamant that political authority should not meddle in the religious beliefs of the citizenry, even to defend them. In his view it is up to each person to decide where to seek their consolation, moral compass or faith. External authority cannot act upon someone's convictions, it can only act upon their interests.[26] He also condemns a religion that is commonly regarded as utilitarian, since it degrades authentic religious feeling.

    He considers that it was necessary for polytheism to decline in line with human progress. The more humans progress in their understanding, the more beneficial the effects of theism.[27] Belief in a god has itself evolved. Christianity, especially Protestantism is, he argues, its most tolerant form and an indicator of intellectual, moral and spiritual evolution.

    Novels

    Constant published only one novel during his lifetime,

    Mme de Stael's Corinne.[15]
    As a young man, Constant became acquainted with a literary friend of his uncle, David-Louis Constant de Rebecque. She was Isabelle de Charrière, a Dutch woman of letters with whom he jointly wrote an epistolary novel, under the title, Les Lettres d'Arsillé fils, Sophie Durfé et autres.[28]

    Legacy

    The importance of Constant's writings on the liberty of the ancients and of that of his time has dominated understanding of his work, as has his critique of the French Revolution.[29] The British philosopher and historian of ideas, Sir Isaiah Berlin has acknowledged his debt to Constant.[30]

    Constant's wider literary and cultural writings (most importantly the novella Adolphe and his extensive history of comparative religion) emphasised the importance of

    individual liberty as vital for individual and moral development and appropriate for modernity, he felt that egoism and self-interest were not part of a true definition of individual liberty. Emotional authenticity and fellow-feeling were critical. In this, his moral and religious thought was strongly influenced by the moral writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and German thinkers such as Immanuel Kant
    , whom he read in reference to his religious history.

    Bibliography

    Essays

    Novels

    • Dennis Wood, Isabelle de Charrière et Benjamin Constant. À propos d'une découverte récente. [Sur Les Lettres d'Arsillé fils, Sophie Durfé et autres, roman écrit par Benjamin Constant et Madame de Charrière.] In : Studies on Voltaire and the eighteenth century; 215. (Oxford, Voltaire Foundation, 1982), p. 273–279.
    • Adolphe (1816) – quotes

    Autobiographical writings

    • Le Cahier rouge (1807), published posthumously (1907)
    • Cécile (écrit vers 1809), published posthumously (1951)[31]

    Letters

    Intimate Diary

    • Journaux intimes, Édition de Jean-Marie Roulin, Éd. Gallimard, collection folio classique n°6382, Paris, 2017.
      ISBN 978-2070792146

    See also

    References

    1. ISBN 978-0300119251
      . He was granted French nationality in 1797 according to a law passed in 1790 to restore their citizenship to French people exiled on account of their religion.
    2. ^ Ralph Raico, Classical Liberalism and the Austrian School, Ludwig von Mises Institute, 2012, p. 222.
    3. ISBN 978-2606013691
      .
    4. ^ Benjamin Constant: French Liberal Extraordinaire, Mises Institute
    5. ^ Craiutu, A. (2012) A Virtue for Courageous Minds: Moderation in French Political Thought, 1748–1830, pp. 199, 202–203
    6. ^ Edmund Fawcett, Liberalism: The Life of an Idea (2nd ed. 2018) pp. 33–48
    7. ^ "Benjamin Constant: philosophe, historien, romancier, homme d'état". Ardent Media. 26 November 1987. p. 38 – via Google Books.
    8. ^ "The Cambridge Companion to Constant". Assets.cambridge.org. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
    9. ^ "Cahier Rouge, p. 122". Commons.wikimedia.org. 11 August 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
    10. Albertine
      .
    11. ISBN 2600046747
    12. ^ Wood, Dennis (1987). Benjamin Constant. Ardent Media. p. 222.
    13. ^ "Un journaliste contre-révolutionnaire, Jean-Gabriel Peltier (1760–1825) – Etudes Révolutionnaires". Etudes-revolutionnaires.org. 7 October 2011. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
    14. ^ Madame de Stael (1862). Madame De Stael and the Grand-Duchess Louise. p. 24.
    15. ^ a b G. Lanson, P. Tuffrau, Manuel d'histoire de la Littérature Française, Hachette, Paris 1953
    16. ^ Wood, Dennis (2002). Benjamin Constant: A Biography. Routledge. p. 185.
    17. ^ "Benjamin Constant e la dicotomia tra la libertá degli antichi e la libertá dei moderni. Il filosofo fondatore del liberalismo fu un faro per il massone Bruno Segre" (in Italian). Grand Orient of Italy.
    18. ^ Location: in division 29.
    19. ^ a b c d "Constant, Benjamin, 1988, 'The Liberty of the Ancients Compared with that of the Moderns' (1819), in The Political Writings of Benjamin Constant, ed. Biancamaria Fontana, Cambridge, pp. 309–328". Uark.edu. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
    20. ^ a b Rosenblatt 2004
    21. ^ Bertholet, Auguste (2021). "Constant, Sismondi et la Pologne". Annales Benjamin Constant. 46: 65–85.
    22. ^ Furet 1981, p. 27
    23. ^ "The Act Additional 1815". www.napoleon-series.org.
    24. JSTOR 2510809
      .
    25. ISBN 978-1400826636
      .
    26. ^ Constant. Principes de politique, Livre VIII, chapitre IV
    27. ^ Constant. Polythéisme romain, II, p. 312
    28. ^ Wood, Dennis. Isabelle de Charrière et Benjamin Constant. À propos d'une découverte récente. [Sur Les Lettres d'Arsillé fils, Sophie Durfé et autres, roman écrit par Benjamin Constant et Madame de Charrière.] In : Studies on Voltaire and the eighteenth century; 215. (Oxford, Voltaire Foundation, 1982), p. 273–279.
    29. ISBN 0729402800
      .
    30. ^ Rosen, Frederick (2005). Classical Utilitarianism from Hume to Mill. Routledge. p. 251. According to Berlin, the most eloquent of all defenders of freedom and privacy [was] Benjamin Constant, who had not forgotten the Jacobin dictatorship.
    31. ^ Henriot, Émile. « Benjamin Constant inédit », sur lemonde.fr, 20 juin 1951 (accessed 17 February 2020).

    Further reading

    Other languages

    • Mauro Barberis, Benjamin Constant. Rivoluzione, costituzione, progresso (1988. Il Mulino, Bologna)
    • Paul Bastid, Benjamin Constant et sa doctrine, I–II (1966. Colin, Paris)
    • Pierre Deguise, Benjamin Constant méconnu. Le livre De la religion, avec des documents inédits (1966. Droz, Genève)
    • Stefano De Luca, Il pensiero politico di Benjamin Constant (1993. Laterza, Roma-Bari)
    • Béatrice Fink (dir.), Benjamin Constant : philosophe, historien, romancier et homme d'État (actes du colloque de l'université du Maryland, octobre 1989), Lausanne, Institut Benjamin Constant ; Paris, J. Touzot, 1991, 186 pp.
    • Luca Fezzi, Il rimpianto di Roma. 'Res publica', libertà 'neoromane' e Benjamin Constant, agli inizi del terzo millennio (2012, Firenze, Le Monnier)
    • François Furet, "La Révolution sans la Terreur? Le débat des historiens du XIXe siècle", in Le Débat pp. 13, 41. (1981)
    • Henri Guillemin, Benjamin Constant, muscadin, Paris, Gallimard, 1958
    • Kurt Kloocke, Benjamin Constant. Une biographie intellectuelle (1984. Droz, Genève)
    • Giovanni Paoletti, Benjamin Constant et les Anciens. Politique, réligion, histoire (2006. Champion, Paris)
    • Tzvetan Todorov, Benjamin Constant: la passion democratique (1997. Hachette, Paris)

    External links

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