[77]Mignet, Notice historique sur la vie et les travaux de M. Ch. Comte (1846) read at a meeting of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, 30 May 1846 and published in Journal des économistes, June 1846. vol. XIV, p. 269-280. See also Gustave de Molinari, "Comte (François-Charles-Louis)," Dictionnaire de l'économie politique, ed. Charles Coquelin and Guillaumin (Paris: Librairie Guillaumin, 1852), vol. 1, pp. 446-447.
[78]Mignet, "Comte," Journal des économistes, June 1846, vol. XIV, p.269.
[79]Comte's sentiments towards Napoleon are clearly summed up by the title of one of his pamphlets written at the time of the One Hundred Days: De l'impossibilité d'établir une monarchie constitutionnelle sous un chef militaire, et particulièrement sous Napoléon. (Paris: les marchands de nouveautés, 1815).
[80]Mignet apparently saw a copy of his play and was not impressed by its style or content. It is a pity that this play was not published and that Mignet dismissed it out of hand with little effort to discuss the political implications of Comte's interest in the comparison between Napoleon and Tarquinius. One is left to speculate about the opera Verdi might have composed if Comte's play had been known to him.
[81]In recent years Leonard Liggio has been the scholar most interested in the life and work of Dunoyer. See Leonard P. Liggio, "Charles Dunoyer and French Classical Liberalism," Journal of Libertarian Studies, 1977, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 153-78. Leonard Liggio has also an unpublished manuscript on Dunoyer: chapter 1 "Dunoyer and the Bourbon Restoration of 1814: The Constitution and Freedom of the Press," pp. 1-40; chapter 2 "Moral Education and the Creation of Public Spirit among the French," pp. 41-84; chapter 3 "International Relations in 1814-1815: Anglophobia, Counter-Revolution and the Congress of Vienna," pp. 85-145; chapter 5 "Censeur's futile Struggle for Freedom of the Press: Dunoyer during the Hundred Days and the Second Restoration," pp. 155-82; chapter 5 "Untitled," pp. 1-49.
[82]Biographical details about Dunoyer have been scattered among the following sources: Ernest Teilhac, "Dunoyer," Encylopaedia of the Social Sciences, ed. Edwin R. Seligman, vol. 5 (New York: Macmillan, 1931), pp. 281-2; Anon., "Dunoyer," Dictionnaire de l'économie politique, ed. Charles Coquelin and Guillaumin (Paris: Guillaumin, 1852), vol. 1, pp. 622-3; "E.R." article "Dunoyer," Nouveau Dictionnaire d'économie politique, ed. Léon Say and Joseph Chailley (Paris: Guillaumin et Cie, 1891), vol. 1, p. 750; Entry by "A.L." (perhaps Liesse?) in the supplement to the Nouveau Dictionnaire d'Économie Politique (1897), vol. 1, pp. 142-44; "Nécrologie. Mort et funérailles de M. Ch. Dunoyer," Journal des économistes, oct-dec 1862, vol. 36, series 2, pp. 442-51, including contributions by Joseph Garnier, Lélut president of the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, Louis Reybaud on behalf of the Moral Science section, Charles Renouard on behalf of the Political Economy Society; Mignet, "Notice historique sur la vie et les travaux de M. Charles Dunoyer," Journal des économistes, 15 May 1873, vol. 30, 3rd series, pp. 161-81, a paper read at the annual public meeting of the Academy of Political and Moral Sciences, 3 May 1873; another version of Mignet's eulogy can be found in: "Charles Dunoyer: Notice," Nouveau Éloges historiques, de Savigny, Alexis de Tocqueville, Victor Cousin, Lord Brougham, Charles Dunoyer, Victor de Broglie, Amédée Thierry (Paris: Didier et Cie, 1877), pp. 239-84; Roman d'Amat, "3. Dunoyer," Dictionnaire de Biographie Française, ed. Roman d'Amat (Paris-IV: Librairie Letouzey et aîné, 1970), vol. 12, pp. 286-88; E.L. Villey-Desmerets, L'oeuvre économique de Ch. Dunoyer (Paris, 1899); R. Adenot, Les idées économiques et politiques de Dunoyer (Toulouse, 1907); Edgar Allix, "La déformation de l'économie politique libérale après J-B. Say: Charles Dunoyer," Revue d'histoire économique et sociale, 4, 1911; Albert Schatz, L'individualisme économique et sociale: ses origines, son évolution, ses formes contemporaines (Paris: Armand Collin, 1907).
[83]His family was an old languedocian family which had owned the seigneurie of Seganzac from the fourteenth until the mid-eighteenth century but had since lost it. Dunoyer's father was Jean-Jacques-Phillippe Dunoyer and his mother Henriette de La Grange de Rouffillac. In spite of the fact that their ancestral family estate had been lost, they chose to use the name "Dunoyer de Segonzac."
[84]Mignet "Dunoyer," Journal des économistes, pp. 163-4. The words used to describe the spirit of "domination" felt by liberals under Napoleon are very similar to those used by Benjamin Constant in 1814 in his famous anti-Napoleonic pamphlet "De l'esprit de conquête et de l'usurpation dans leurs rapports avec la civilisation européen," in Benjamin Constant, De la liberté chez les modernes. Écrits politiques, ed. Marcel Gauchet (Paris: Livre de Poche, 1980). This essential document of anti-Napoleonic liberalism is now available in a modern English translation with a useful introduction: Benjamin Constant, Political Writings, ed. Biancamaria Fontana (Cambridge University Press, 1988).
[85]In particular his sympathy for the Spanish liberals, who were opposed on one side by the legitimists and on the other side by the Anglophile constitutionalists, was evident in his later writings on the Spanish problem in Le Censeur and Le Censeur européen. Leonard P. Liggio, "International Relations in 1814-1815: Anglophobia, Counter-Revolution and the Congress of Vienna," and the series of articles by Éphraïm Harpaz on Comte and Dunoyer's journalism: "Le Censeur, Histoire d'un journal libéral," Revue des sciences humaines, Octobre-Décembre 1958, 92, pp. 483-511; "Le Censeur européen, histoire d'un journal industrialiste," Revue d'histoire économique et sociale, 1959, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 185-218 and vol. 37, no. 3, pp. 328-57; "Le Censeur européen: histoire d'un journal quotidien," Revue des sciences humaines, 1964, pp. 113-116, pp. 137-259. A good survey of liberal attitudes to questions of foreign policy, in particular the movements for national independence, is given by Éphraïm Harpaz, "Politique mondiale," L'école libérale sous la restauration: le "Mercure" et la "Minerve" 1817-1820 (Genève: Droz, 1968), pp. 175-222.
[86]Charles Dunoyer, Réponse à quelques pamphlets contre la constitution (Paris: Dentu, 1814).
[87]The first volume of Le Censeur carried the date June 12-September 30, 1814 and had the full title of Le Censeur Ou examen des actes et des ouvrages qui tendent à détruire ou à consolider la constitution de l'état with a motto taken from Aristotle "Si quos proeesse oportet, ita sunt proeficiendi, ut custodes legum atque ministri."
[88]Quoted by Mignet, "Notice historique de M. Comte," Journal des économistes, June 1846, vol. XIV, p.271. As Dunoyer put it in somewhat different but still rather high-sounding words, their aim in publishing Le Censeur was "the desire to push the nation towards the purposeful, honest and serious examination of its affairs and its own destiny," in Mignet, "Dunoyer," Journal des économistes, p. 165. The most comprehensive history of Comte and Dunoyer's journal is by Éphraïm Harpaz in a series of articles, cited in full in a note above. Harpaz provides much detail about what was written in each volume of Le Censeur and Le Censeur européen but little real insight into their thought. Robert Warren Brown, "The Political Response: The Censeur and the First Restoration," in The Generation of 1820 During the Bourbon Restoration in France, pp. 48-116 also recognises the political importance of their journal and the evolution of their ideas expressed in it.
[89]A historian of the French press during the Restoration, Eugène Hatin has described the function of Le Censeur in similar terms: "The only truly independent journal of the epoch was Le Censeur. Le Censeur had been created by two of those young men for whom the imperial despotism contradicted all their ideas, revolted all their sentiments, and who despite their patriotism, had seen in the day of March 31 the signal of the universal deliverance. Admitted to the intimacy of the most distinguished members of the liberal minority of the Senate and of the philosophic party, the Tracys, the Lanjuinais, the Lenoir-Laroches, the Lambrechts, the Volneys, and the Cabanis, Comte and Dunoyer had imbibed a horror of tyranny, and it was to prevent its return that they had taken their stand... the ideas which, in its first numbers, Le Censeur expressed and developed in a firm and grave tone, contrasted singularly with most of the writings currently published. In sum, it was a support rather than a danger to the constitutional government of June 4, if that government would march directly along its path; but it would encounter in the new paper an inflexible censor every time that it deviated." Quoted in Liggio, "Charles Dunoyer and French Classical Liberalism," Journal of Libertarian Studies, p. 159 from Eugène Hatin, Histoire politique et littéraire de la presse en France. La press moderne, 1789-1860. La presse sous la Restauration (Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1967, original edition Paris: 1859-61), vol. VIII, pp. 82-86.
[90]This is the opinion of Mignet, "Dunoyer," Journal des économistes, p. 165.
[91]At least the dubious "translations" of Étienne Dumont.
[92]Charles Comte, Traité de législation, ou exposition des lois générales suivant lesquelles les peuples prospèrent, dépérissent ou restent stationnaire, 4 vols. (Paris: A. Sautelet et Cie, 1827). A second revised edition was published in 1835 by Chamerot, Ducollet of Paris in 4 vols. to coincide with the publication of its sequel, the Traité de la propriété. A revised and corrected third edition was published in 1837 by Hauman, Cattoir et Cie of Brussells. All references are to this third edition of 1837. Quote about Bentham's method, p. 6.
[93]Jeremy Bentham, "Anarchical Fallacies: Being an Examination of the Declaration of Rights issued during the French Revolution (1796)," in The Works of Jeremy Bentham, ed. Bowring (Edinburgh: William Tait, 1843), vol. 2, pp. 491-534.
[94]"For such is the difference - the great and perpetual difference, betwixt the good subject , the rational censor of the laws, and the anarchist - between the moderate man and the man of violence. The rational censor, acknowledging the existence of the law he disapproves, proposes the repeal of it: the anarchist, setting up his will and fancy for a law before which all mankind are called upon to bow down at the first word - the anarchist, trampling on truth and decency, denies the validity of a law, and calls upon all mankind to rise up in a mass, and resist the execution of it," Bentham, "Anarchical Fallacies," p. 498.
[95]According to Mignet, "For several months he alone exercised freedom of the press as a privilege of his courage." Quoted by Molinari, "Comte," Dictionnaire de l'économie politique, p. 446.
[96]Mignet, "Dunoyer," Journal des économistes and Roman d'Amat, "Dunoyer," Dictionnaire de Biographie Française, ed. Roman d'Amat (Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1970), vol. 12, pp. 286-88. Publications less than 320 pages were subject to prior censorship. On censorship in France see Frede Castberg, Freedom of Speech in the West: A Comparative Study of Public Law in France, the United States and Germany (Oslo University Press, 1960); Lenore O'Boyle, "The Image of the Journalist in France, Germany and England, 1815-1848," Comparative Studies in Society and History, 1968, vol. X, no. 3, pp. 290-317; Irene Collins, The Government and the Newspaper Press in France, 1814-1888 (Oxford University Press, 1959); Histoire générale de la presse française, ed. Claude Bellanger, et al. (Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1969). Like Comte and Dunoyer during this period Benjamin Constant was a vigorous defender of a free press. Benjamin Constant, "De la liberté de la pensée," in Les "Principes de politique" de Benjamin Constant, ed. Étienne Hofmann (Genève: Droz, 1980), vol. 2, pp. 125-54. Also during the first period of publication of Le Censeur Charles Comte and Charles Dunoyer found time to publish a pamphlet: Charles Comte and Charles Dunoyer, Observation sur divers actes de l'autorité et sur des matières de législation, de morale et de politique (Paris: Marchant, novembre 1814).
[97]Charles Comte, De l'impossibilité d'établir un gouvernement consitutionnel sous un chef militaire (Paris: les marchands de nouveautés, 1815). Two editions under this title. Third and revised edition, De l'impossibilité d'établir une monarchie constitutionnelle sous un chef militaire, et particulièrement sous Napoléon (Paris: Renaudière, 1815). Fourth edition 1815.
[98]Comte successfully defended General Excelmens in January 1815 for having offended the King in a letter he wrote to the newly restored monarch. Although Comte defended him on the grounds of opposing the arbitrary acts of the restored monarchy, the result of the court action might have been interpreted by pro-Napoleon elements as an indication of the weakness of the crown in removing Napoleonic sympathisers from the army. Charles Comte, Défense de M. le comte Exelmans, lieutenant-général (Paris: Renaudière, 1815). Signed, Comte, avocat, 2 January 1815.
[100]Mignet describes the difficult situation in which the judges found themselves when confronted on the one hand by the immanent return of Napoleon and on the other hand by the stubbornness of the liberals Comte and Dunoyer: "The position of the judges was delicate... (P)laced between the government which still existed and the government which would soon exist they felt some embarrassment in making a decision - what was a crime today might be a mark of honour tomorrow. The prudence of the accused journalist drew them into this difficult situation. He demanded the postponement of the sentence in the hope that later on it would be just as impossible to impose the sentence as it would be to carry it out. But this (act) was to underestimate MM. Comte and Dunoyer and their intrepid views. Called before the bench when the Emperor had resumed his throne, in order to continue a suit which had lost all meaning, they persisted and had the following inscribed in the register of complaints (registre du greffe) that `if the accusation of having cooperated in the reestablishment of the Imperial government had not exposed them to any harm, that of having sought to overthrow the established government had exposed them to public disapprobation'." Quoted in Molinari, "Comte," Dictionnaire de l'économie politique, p. 446. See also Mignet, "Comte," p. 273.
[101]Five issues had appeared in the last half of 1814 and the first few months of 1815. It was the fifth issue which appeared during the Hundred Days: Le Censeur, vol. V, 18 April 1815. The dates of the volumes are as follows: volume 1, 12 June, 1814; vol. 2, Nov 15, 1814; vol. 3, Dec 20, 1814; vol. IV, March 1, 1815; vol. V, April 18, 1815; vol. VI, June 1, 1815; vol. VII, Sept 6, 1815.
[102]Le Censeur, vol. V, 18 April 1815, pp. 269-270.
[103]Quoted in Mignet, "Comte," pp. 273-4.
[104]Hatin, without approving of the stand taken by the editors of Le Censeur, states that had other newspapers and journals shown the same diligence and courage as Comte and Dunoyer they too might have been able to defeat the censors: "Le Censeur was heard every hour to reprimand so vigorously the newspapers on their pusillanimity, and without doubt proved to them how far one was able to be bold. It is said that Fouché, wishing to attach to himself the editors of that paper, had offered to them the editorship of the Moniteur; then, on their refusal, had given them the choice of places which would be agreeable to them. But Comte and Dunoyer had rebuffed these offers, and they had remained inflexible in their opposition to the imperial government, an opposition which, it is very necessary to say, was not under the circumstances, very intelligent or very patriotic." Quoted in Liggio, Journal of Libertarian Studies, p. 160.
[106]Fouché, whether he was acting for Louis XVIII or Napoleon, would seem to be destined to censor Le Censeur no matter for whom he worked. Some 4,500 copies of the seventh volume was seized thus giving some idea of the size of the circulation.
[107]Mignet states that Comte wrote a pamphlet in defence of the army which could not be published at this time. He gives no details about this pamphlet except to say that it was written at about this time. He could be referring to two pamphlets Comte wrote in 1815; either the Excelmans pamphlet which could be interpreted by some parties as a defence of the army, or to Comte's attack on Napoleon's claims to establish a constitutional government which could not. Thus Mignet's reference remains mysterious. Mignet, "Comte," p. 274.
[108]The attitude of Dunoyer to slavery has been discussed by Leonard P. Liggio in an unpublished manuscript dealing with Dunoyer's political philosophy and I would like to thank him for making his manuscript available to me. The section dealing with Dunoyer's attitude to slavery comes from chapter 3 "International Relations in 1814-1815: Anglophobia, Counter-Revolution and the Congress of Vienna," pp 114 ff.
[109]See the discussion in Seymour Drescher, "The Abolition of Slavery," in Dilemmas of Democracy: Tocqueville and Modernization (Pittsburg University of Press, 1968), pp. 151-195.
[110]Dunoyer, Bulletin du Censeur, vol. 1, no. 10, 12-22 September, p.71; quoted in Liggio, pp. 115-6.
[111]Dunoyer, review of Thomas Clarkson, Essai sur les désavantages politiques de la traité des Nègres... Traduit de l'anglais sur la dernière édition qui a paru à Londres en 1789 (Paris, 1814), in Le Censeur, vol. 2, pp. 156-75; discussed by Liggio, pp. 116-16A.
[112] Grégoire had other important contacts with radical liberals who had a considerable influence on Comte and Dunoyer. For example, Jean-Baptiste Say (an important mentor of Dunoyer and the father-in-law of Comte) was an active member of the Société des Amis des Noirs, founded by Grégoire in March 1796. Say reviewed and announced the Société's publication in the Décade philosophique (the journal of the Ideologues which Say edited) and spoke at society meetings. Thus it can be seen that Comte and Dunoyer had access to several sources of anti-slavery thought, including Clarkson and the radical British abolitionists (via Grégoire); the philosophe tradition of Condorcet and Denis Diderot; the Coppet circle of Benjamin Constant, Madame de Staël, and Simonde de Sismondi; and the political economists such as Adam Smith, Destutt de Tracy and Jean-Baptiste Say. Any history of the abolitionist movement in France must include Madame de Staël and Simonde de Sismondi. Madame de Staël wrote an influential introduction to a French translation of William Wilberforce, "Préface pour la traduction d'un ouvrage de M. Wilberforce, sur la traite des nègres," (1814) in Madame de Staël, Oeuvres complètes, ed. Auguste de Staël (Paris, 1817), vol. 17. Her son, Auguste, was one of the leading members of the liberal abolitionist movement during the Restoration period. Sismondi while at Coppet under the influence of Madame de Staël developed a life-long interest in all forms of coerced labour, in particular slavery and serfdom. See Simonde de Sismondi, De l'intérêt de la France à l'égard de la traite des nègres (Genève: 1814); and the following essays: "Des effets de l'esclavage sur la race humaine," and "De la marche à suivre pour retirer les cultivateurs nègres de l'esclavage," "Des colonies" in volume 1 of Études sur l'économie politique (Paris: Treuttel et Würtz, 1837) and "De la condition des cultivateurs dans la compagne de Rome," in vol. 2. See also Alfred Berchtold, "Sismondi et le groupe de Coppet face à l'ésclavage et au colonialisme," in Sismondi européen. Actes du Colloque international tenu à Genève les 14 et 15 septembre 1973, ed. Sven Stelling-Michaud (Genève: Slatkine, 1976), pp. 169-98.
[113]Dunoyer, review of Clarkson, Le Censeur, vol. 2, pp 156-9; quoted and translated by Liggio, p. 117. The expression "wages of whip blows" used by Dunoyer in this passage is one Charles Comte liked to use in his discussion of slavery in the Traité de législation some ten years later. Comte cynically called "les coups de fouet" a new form of money which the slave owners used to pay their slaves for labouring in their fields. See below for a discussion of this.
114Dunoyer, Le Censeur, pp. 160-62; quoted in Liggio, p. 118.
[115]Dunoyer, Le Censeur, pp. 162-3; quoted and translated by Liggio, p. 118.
[116]Dunoyer, Le Censeur, pp. 162-3; quoted and translated by Liggio, p. 118.
[117]A good example of Dunoyer's Anglophobia can be found in Dunoyer, Le Censeur, pp. 168-73; quoted and translated by Liggio, p 119.
[118]Dunoyer, Le Censeur, pp. 174-5; quoted and translated by Liggio, p. 121. I have altered the tense of the verbs in one sentence.
[119]Comte Henri Grégoire, De la traite et de l'esclavage des noirs et des blancs; par un ami des hommes de toutes les couleurs (Paris, 1815); reviewed in Le Censeur, vol. 4, pp. 210-30.
[120]See the discussion of Say's views of slavery below.
[121]Dunoyer, Le Censeur, vol. 4, pp. 210-13; quoted and translated by Liggio, p. 122.
[122]Dunoyer, Le Censeur, vol. 4, p. 214; quoted and translated by Liggio, pp. 122-3. The Russian political economist Henri Storch also described enslaved labourers as machines. For a discussion of Storch's important views of the economics of serf and slave labour see below.
[123]Dunoyer, Le Censeur, vol. 4, pp. 215-22; quoted and trans. by Liggio, p. 123.
[124]There were other examples Dunoyer cited of the behaviour of "enslaved" or coerced whites behaving much like enslaved blacks, for example whites who were kidnapped to form gangs of soldiers (in other words armies composed of conscripted or press-ganged men).
[125]Dunoyer, Le Censeur, vol. 4, pp. 223-6; quoted and trans. by Liggio, p. 124. Liggio makes the interesting point that Diderot also compared the situation of European workers with the black slaves in the New World.
[126]This is a theme Dunoyer returns to in L'industrie et la morale (1825), namely that to a large extent individuals are to blame for their own continued enslavement by not sufficiently resisting tyrannous governments.
[127]Dunoyer is using an analysis of power based on an hierarchical or pyramidal structure which was elaborated by the 16th century writer and friend of Montaigne, Étienne de la Boétie. He too believed that to some extent slavery is voluntary in that many put up with exploitation in the hope that they can pass it on to others further below them in the pyramid. In addition, those at the very bottom who cannot pass it on to anyone else, do not realise that their strength lies in their very numbers. See Étienne de la Boétie, Discours de la servitude volontaire (circa 1552), ed. Simone Goyard-Fabre (Paris: Flammarion, 1983) and Étienne de la Boétie, Le Discours de la servitude volontaire, ed. P. Léonard (Paris: Payot, 1978). Similarly, Dunoyer's discussion of "despotism" has some similarities to the English radical minister, Vicesimus Knox, in whose Spirit of Despotism (1795) it is argued that the privileged aristocratic classes used war to whip up popular enthusiams and thus distract attention away from domestic problems. Furthermore, these privileged classes used the prospect of spoils from the system to buy off dissent: Vicesimus Knox, The Spirit of Despotism, in The Works, vol. 5 (London: J. Mawman, 1824), pp. 137-403 reprinted (Hildesheim and New York: Georg Olms Verlag, 1970). Although the parallels with Dunoyer's analysis of Napoleon and despotism in general are striking there is no evidence that Dunoyer was aware of either Boétie or Knox.
[129]It would be interesting to know why the task of reviewing the material on slavery fell to Dunoyer rather than Comte. As their later work reveals they were both extremely interested in the problem of slavery and slavery formed a vital component in their social theory. One might have expected them to share their reviews. However this was not the case.
[130]Charles Dunoyer, "Esquisse des doctrines auxquelles on a donné le nom d'industrialisme, c'est-à-dire, des doctrines qui fondent la société sur l'industrie," Revue encyclopédique, février 1827, vol. 33, pp. 368-94. Reprinted in Notices d'économie politique, vol. 3 of Oeuvres, pp. 173-199. In addition to the works of Say already mentioned, Dunoyer refers directly to François Montlosier, De la Monarchie française depuis son établissement jusqu'à nos jours (Paris, 1814); Benjamin Constant, "De l'ésprit de conquête et de l'usurpation" (1814) in De la liberté chez les modernes: Écrits politiques, ed. Marcel Gauchet (Paris: Livre de poche, 1980). Dunoyer described the years from 1814 to 1817 when Say, Montlosier, and Constant's works appeared as "l'époque où paraissaient ces précieuses productions." Dunoyer, "Esquisse," Revue encyclopédique, p. 372.
[131] Augustin Thierry, "Des nations et de leurs rapports mutuels; ce que ces rapports ont été aux diverse époques de la civilisation; ce qu'ils sont aujourd'hui, et quels principes de conduite en dérivent," Seconde partie: Politique, vol. 1, pp. 19-127 of Saint-Simon's L'Industrie ou discussions politiques, morales et philosophiques dans l'intérêt de tous les hommes livrés à des travaux utiles et indépendants (Mai, 1817), reprinted in Oeuvres de Claude-Henri de Saint-Simon (Paris: Editions anthropos, 1966), vol. 1.
[132]The theory of industrialism and the contribution of the liberals to its formation has been discussed by Michael James, "Pierre-Louis Roederer, Jean-Baptiste Say, and the concept of industrie," History of Political Economy, 9, 1977; Leonard P. Liggio, "Charles Dunoyer and French Classical Liberalism," 1977, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 455-75; Mark Weinburg, "The Social Analysis of three early nineteenth century French liberals: Say, Comte, and Dunoyer," Journal of Libertarian Studies, 1978, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 45-63; Henri Gouhier, La jeunesse d'Auguste Comte et la formation du positivisme, tome III, Auguste Comte et Saint-Simon (Paris: Librairie philosophique J. Vrin, 1941); and Elie Halévy, "Saint-Simonian Economic Doctrine," The Era Of Tyrannies: Essays on Socialism and War, trans. R.K. Webb (London: Allen Lane, 1967), pp. 17-81; and Henri Saint-Simon, 1760-1825: Selected Writings on Science, Industry and Social Organization, ed. Keith Taylor (London: Croom Helm, 1975); Edgar Allix, "La rivalité entre la propriété foncière et la fortune mobilière sous la Révolution," Revue d'histoire économique et sociale, 6, 1913; Edgar Allix, "J-B Say et les origines de l'industrialisme," Revue d'économie politique, 1910, vol. XXIV, pp. 303-13, 341-63; Shirley M. Gruner, "Forerunners of Industrialism," Economic Materialism and Social Moralism: A Study in the History of Ideas in France from the latter part of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th century (The Hague, 1973).
[133]Charles Comte, Review of the third edition of Say's Traité d'économie politique, Le Censeur européen, 1817, vol. 1, pp. 159-227 and vol. 2, pp. 169-221. The first edition of Say's Traité appeared in 1803 and the edition which Comte and Dunoyer read was the third revised edition of 1817.
[134]Say's report was published as "De l'Angleterre et des anglais," (1815) reprinted in Oeuvres diverses... (Paris: Guillaumin, 1848), pp. 205-231.
[135]On Say, see Joanna Kitchen, La Décade, 1794-1807. Un journal "philosophique" (Paris, 1965); Ernest Teilhac, L'oeuvre économique de Jean-Baptiste Say (Paris, 1927); Charles Comte, "Notice historique sur la vie et les ouvrages de J.-B. Say," Mélanges... de J.-B. Say, (Paris, 1833); Edgar Allix, "J.-B. Say et les origines de l'industrialisme," Revue d'économie politique, 24, 1910; idem, "La méthode et la conception de l'économie politique dans l'oeuvre de J.-B. Say," Revue d'histoire économique et sociale, 4, 1911; André Liesse, "Un professeur d'économie politique sous la Restauration...," Journal des économistes, 46, 1901. See also the dissertation by the Dutch historian Evert Schoorl, Jean-Baptiste Say, (Dissertation, Amsterdam, 1980).
[136]Say called this value "immaterial" to distinguish it from the traditional eighteenth century view (which persisted into nineteenth century socialism as well as some classical political economists) that only labour which resulted in "material" goods created true value. Say's influence on French political economy in general and on Dunoyer in particular on the doctrine of "immaterial" goods is discussed by A. Clément, "Produits immatériels," Dictionnaire de l'économie politique, vol. 2, pp. 450-52. See Say's discussion of immaterial goods and the productivity of the industrial entrepreneur in "Analogie des produits immatériels, avec tous les autres" and "De quoi se composent les travaux de l'industrie" chapters V and VI of Part One of the Cours complet d'économie politique pratique...(Paris: Guillaumin, 1840), vol. 1, pp. 89-102.
[137]As Say put it in his last major work, the Cours complet published in 1828: "On the other hand, if we consider wealth in the interest of society we should devote particular attention to individual wealth because individual wealth ensures the well-being of the individuals who compose society. But we regard the goods acquired by an individual as a gain only to the extent that it is not achieved by means of an equivalent loss for another individual. Society has gained nothing when one man's loss is another's gain. Individuals can believe that the most important thing is to acquire wealth without concerning themselves with its origin. This narrow economic calculation will not satisfy serious investigators or liberally minded individuals. The latter want to know the source of wealth which must be continually produced if constantly changing needs are to be provided for." Say, "Considérations générales", p. 18 of vol. 1 of the Cours complet.
[138]Say, Traité d'économie politique, "Discours préliminaire," p. 1. Dunoyer, "Esquisse," Revue encyclopédique, p. 374. Dunoyer also criticised traditional political philosophy for neglecting the relationship between what he termed "the science of industry and the science of society; that is to say, (the relationship) between the knowledge of the laws according to which all the useful professions develop and the knowledge of the laws according to which society itself is perfected." Dunoyer, "Esquisse," Revue encyclopédique, p. 368.
[139]Dunoyer, "Esquisse," Revue encyclopédique, p. 373
[140]Benjamin Constant, De l'esprit de conquête et de l'usurpation dans leurs rapports avec la civilisation européenne (1814), in De la liberté chez les modernes. Ecrits politiques, ed. Marcel Gauchet (Paris: Livre de poche, 1980), pp. 105-261. An English translation is now available by Biancamaria Fontana, Benjamin Constant, Political Writings, ed. Biancamaria Fontana (Cambridge University Press, 1988).
[141]"The aim of modern nations is comfort, and with comfort, dignity, consideration, glory, clarification (l'illustration); and the source of all these goods is the moral and enlightened exercise of all the useful professions or, as M. Benjamin Constant expresses it, industry, which includes all the professions useful to society." Dunoyer, "Esquisse," Revue encyclopédique, p. 371. See also Gauchet, p. 118. Dunoyer quibbled with Constant over the use of the word "unique" and reminded him that far from believing that man's sole interest in life were material and physical needs Constant had written a Traité sur la Religion in which the spiritual needs of mankind were discussed at considerable length.
[142]Referring to himself and Comte in the third person Dunoyer stated: "They do not say, as M. B. Constant does, that industry is the sole (unique) object of modern nations: too many dominating passions (whether noble, sacerdotal, mercantile) occupy centre stage for us to say with confidence that people have this honourable disposition to prosper only by peaceful labour and regular exchanges. But what M. B. Constant does do is to put it forward as a principle. They recognise, not that industry is, but that it ought to be, that it is destined to become, that it increasingly will become the purpose of modern nations, and that the object of politics is both to state what this purpose is and to seek out how society could achieve it." Dunoyer, "Esquisse," Revue encyclopédique, p. 375.
[143]The tendency for liberals to favour Athens over Sparta is discussed in a stimulating article by N. Loraux et P. Vidal-Naquet, "La formation de l'Athènes bourgeoisie: Essai d'historiographie 1750-1870," in Classical Influences on Western Thought A.D. 1650-1870. Proceedings of an International Conference held at King's College, Cambridge March 1977, ed. R.R. Bolgar (Cambridge University Press), pp. 169-222.
[144]Dunoyer somewhat later admitted that one of their major sources for rejecting the "ancient" form of liberty and for spurning ancient Greek and Roman militarism and slavery was one of Constant's essays, De la liberté des anciens comparée à celles des modernes in Benjamin Constant, De la liberté des anciens comparée à celles des modernes. Discours prononcé à l'Athénée royal de Paris en 1819, in De la liberté chez les modernes. Écrits politiques, ed. Marcel Gauchet (Paris: Livre de poche, 1980), pp. 491-515. Dunoyer discusses his intellectual debts in "Esquisse historique," Revue encyclopédique, février 1827, vol. 33, pp. 368-94.
[145]The extent of Comte and Dunoyer's rejection of the ancient world can be got from their analyses of slavery which will be discussed in more detail below. In Mignet's opinion Comte "... adopted with passion and in a quite absolute way the principles of this science, which appeared to him both as an instrument (of analysis) and the measure of the (degree of) civilisation of a people. He was particularly concerned with the Greeks and Romans who until then had his complete admiration. Their considerable virtues did not pardon their social imperfections. These admirable authors so full of immortal ideas, these pioneers of the human sciences, these incomparable creators of the arts of the spirit, these useful dominators of the world who had given it the unity of civilisation and the wisdom of its best laws were now only in (Comte's) eyes barbarians because they had owned slaves, had not practiced free labour, and had only recognised the processes of force and the industry of conquest." Mignet, "Comte," pp. 274-5.
[146] Dunoyer, L'industrie et la morale, p. 228, footnote.
[147]Dunoyer, "Esquisse," Revue encyclopédique, pp. 373-4.
[148]Constant, "De la liberté d'industrie" in the "Annexes aux principes de politiques," in Gauchet, Principes de Politique, pp. 456-70.; Constant's review of Dunoyer's De l'Industrie et la morale, in Benjamin Constant, "De M. Dunoyer et de quelques-un de ses ouvrages," in the collection of articles and essays Mélanges de littérature et de politique (1829), originally published as Dunoyer would have known in the Revue encyclopédique, février 1826, vol. 2; Constant, Commentaire sur l'ouvrage de Filangieri (Paris: P. Dufart, 1822) and Benjamin Constant, Mémoires sur les Cent Jours (Paris: Pichon et Didier, 1829).
[149] To my knowledge, only Rudolf Herrnstadt has recognised the importance of Constant's ideas on class, set forth rather tentatively in Mémoires sur les Cent Jours (1819-20) where he examines the nature of the Bonapartist nobility. Herrnstadt's analysis can be found in Die Entdeckung der Klassen. Die Geschichte des Begriffs Klasse von der Anfängen bis zum Vorabend der Pariser Julirevolution 1830 (Berlin: Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, 1965), pp. 285-305. On Constant's political thought see De la Liberté chez les Modernes: Ecrits politiques, ed. Marcel Gauchet (Paris, 1980); Guy H. Dodge, Benjamin Constant's Philosophy of Liberalism: A Study in Politics and Religion (University of North Carolina Press, 1980); Benjamin Constant, Ecrits et Discours politiques, ed. O. Pozzo di Borgo (Paris, 1964); Benjamin Constant, Recueil d'articles: Le Mercure, La Minerve et la Renommé, ed. Ephraim Harpaz (Geneva, 1972); Benjamin Constant, Recueil d'articles 1795-1817, ed. Ephraim Harpaz (Geneva, 1978).
150François Montlosier, De la Monarchie française, depuis son établissement jusqu'à nos jours, ou Recherches sur les anciennes institutions françaises et sur les causes qui ont amené la Révolution et ses diverses phases jusqu'à la déclaration d'empire, avec un supplément sur le gouvernement de Bonaparte... et sur le retour de la Maison de Bourbon (Paris: Gide et fils, 1814), 3 vols. On Montlosier see P. Cella, "'Pouvoir civil' e 'pouvoir politique' nel pensiero di Montlosier," Il pensiero politico, 1983, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 189-214. Dunoyer reviewed it twice in Le Censeur européen, once briefly and then a little later in more detail: Brief review of Montlosier, De la monarchie française, in Le Censeur européen, 1818, vol. 8, pp. 386-88; and in more detail in Review of Montlosier, De la monarchie française, in Le Censeur européen, 1818, vol. 9, pp. 108-55.
[151]Quite unlike Augustin Thierry whose interpretation of the Third Estate was one of near exaltation. See his Essai sur l'histoire de la formation et des progrès du Tiers État (Paris: Furne, 1853).
[152]Dunoyer, "Esquisse," Revue encyclopédique, p. 372.
[153]Montlosier, De la Monarchie française, vol. 1, pp. 135-6, 175, quoted in Dunoyer, "Esquisse," Revue encyclopédique, p. 372.
[154]Dunoyer, "Esquisse," Revue encyclopédique, p. 373.
[155]Le Censeur européen appeared in 12 volumes. The first volume was published on 16 December 1816, although it appeared somewhat later than the date listed, and the last volume on 16 March 1819. From June 1819 until June 1820 it became a daily newspaper. The full title was Le Censeur européen, ou examen de diverses questions de droit public, et des divers ouvrages littéraires et scientifiques, considérés dans leurs rapports avec le progrès de la civilisation and had the motto of "Paix et liberté." Harpaz states that between 2,000 and 4,000 copies of each volume were distributed, "Histoire d'un journal industrialiste" part 2, pp 354-5.
[156]A clue to their reading in this period can be got from the books which were reviewed in the first couple of issues of the new journal, Le Censeur européen. Harpaz gives a comprehensive list in "Histoire d'un journal industrialiste."
[157]Harpaz believes the true author to be Frédéric Lullin de Châteauvieux, "Histoire d'un journal industrialiste" part 2, pp. 340.
[158]Both episodes are discussed by Harpaz, "Histoire d'un journal industrialiste" part 2, pp. 338-44.
[159]Harpaz argues that Comte and Dunoyer's printer Renaudière, who had printed all their journals from the very beginning, had scrupulously satisfied all the requirements of the press laws before publishing volume three. He had registered the volume with the police on 7 May 1817 and had deposited the required five volumes with them. The seizure of the stock and the actual manuscripts from the printer is a good example of the arbitrary nature of the censorship which critics of the restored monarchy faced.
[160]Harpaz lists the following liberal luminaries who came forward to act as guarantors for Comte and Dunoyer's bail: le duc de Broglie, Laffitte, Ternaux, La Fayette, Destutt de Tracy, Chaptal fils, Auguste de Staël, Benjamin Constant, d'Argenson, Jean-Baptiste Say, Basterrèche, General Tarayre and "others" unspecified, "Histoire d'un journal industrialiste" part 2, pp. 339, footnote 187.
[161]Harpaz believes this is the case, see the discussion in "Histoire d'un journal industrialiste" part 2, p. 343.
[162]Mignet, "Comte," p. 276. There appears to some confusion about Comte's arrests and imprisonment in 1817. One source says that Comte was forced to spend five months in prison in la Force in 1817 for not having shown sufficient respect to the allied occupation forces. In an article which offended the censors and which I have not been able to find, Comte apparently suggested that there were too many men under arms and not enough school teachers. This appears to conflate the two separate incidents discussed above: a period of imprisonment for printing the Murray edition of Napoleon's "memoirs" and a second episode which did involve criticism of a French officer for shooting a young man but for which Comte was not imprisoned, thanks to the courage of his wife.
[163]Mignet, "Dunoyer," pp. 168-9.
[164]In Mignet, "Dunoyer," pp. 169-70. The legal cases in which Comte and Dunoyer were involved resulted in much discussion in their journal as well as the production of numerous pamphlets justifying their actions. The enormous effort which the writing and publication of the following jointly written works helps explain why Comte and Dunoyer were not able to continue their theoretical work as they would like to have done and why they did not regret too much having to give up their daily journalism and related legal and political battles: Appel à la cour royale de Paris, chambre des appels de police corectionnelle, du jugement rendu le 19 juillet 1817 par la sixième chambre du tribunal de première instance du département de la Seine, sur une demande de mise en liberté (Paris: Bureau du Censeur européen, 1817); Dénonciation d'arrestation et de détention arbitraire (Paris: Au bureau de Censeur européen, 1817); Mémoire adressé à la chambre d'accusation de la Cour royale de Paris (sur la saisie du 3e vol. du Censeur) (Paris: Bureau du Censeur européen, 1817); Mémoire adressé à la chambre du conseil du tribunal de la Seine, sur la saisie de divers écrits, par les auteurs du Censeur (Paris: Renaudière, 1817); Observations soumises au tribunal de police correctionnelle du département de la Seine, précédées de l'analyse des moyens préjudiciels, et présentées à la cour royale, chambre des appels de police correctionnelle (Paris: Au bureau du Censeur européen, 1817); Conclusions motivées, présentées à la cour royale de Paris, chambre des appels correctionnels, par François-Charles Comte et Charles-Barthélemy Dunoyer, auteurs du Censeur européen, appelans du jugement rendu contre eux, le 19 août dernier, par la 6e chambre du tribunal de première instance du département de la Seine (Paris: Renaudière, s.d.); Dernières conclusions de MM. Comte et Dunoyer, suivies de quelques notes importantes. Étrennes à Leurs Excellences MM. le Baron Pasquier, comte de Cazes... et Mirebel... par M. Furet (Paris, 1818). Charles Comte also wrote alone De nouveau projet de loi sur la presse (Paris: Bureau de Censeur européen, Renaudiére, 1817); Lettre à M. le garde des Sceaux, ministre de la justice (Paris: Au bureau du Censeur, rue Git-le-Coeur, no. 10, Paris, Fain, 1818); Réflexions sur le projet de loi relatif aux crimes et délits commis par la voie de la presse ou autre moyen de publication (Paris: Fain, 1819), an extract from vol. 12 of Le Censeur européen. And by Dunoyer alone Mémoire à consulter. Quel et le lieu où se commet un délit de la presse? (Signed: Vatar, avocat, Dunoyer, partie) (Rennes: Chausseblanche, 1818?); Observations préliminaires, présentées à la seconde chambre du tribunal de première instance de Rennes, à l'audience de 30 mai 1818 par M. Dunoyer (Rennes, 1818); Conclusions motivées pour le sieur Charles-Barthélemy Dunoyer... appelant du jugement rendu, le 8 juin 1818, par le 2e chambre du tribunal ... de Rennes (Rennes: Chausseblanche, 1818).
[165]A possible reaction to the growing conservative reaction and particularly the press censorship he suffered under was that Charles Dunoyer became involved in radical liberal political activity to have General La Fayette elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the autumn of 1818. Mentioned in Liggio, Journal of Libertarian Studies, p. 176, fn 32.
[166]Quoted in Liggio, Journal of Libertarian Studies, pp. 163-4.
[167]Charles Comte, "Préface de la première édition," Traité de législation, 3rd ed, p. xiii.
[168]Charles Comte, "Préface de la première édition," Traité de législation, 3rd ed, p. xiv. The last sentence comes from a footnote on the same page.