THE RUINS,
OR, MEDITATION ON THE REVOLUTIONS OF EMPIRES
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A FREE AND LEGISLATIVE PEOPLE.
Considering that all public power was now suspended, and that the
habitual restraint of the people had suddenly ceased, I shuddered
with the apprehension that they would fall into the dissolution of
anarchy. But, taking their affairs into immediate deliberation,
they said:
It is not enough that we have freed ourselves from tyrants and
parasites; we must prevent their return. We are men, and
experience has abundantly taught us that every man is fond of
power, and wishes to enjoy it at the expense of others. It is
necessary, then, to guard against a propensity which is the source
of discord; we must establish certain rules of duty and of right.
But the knowledge of our rights, and the estimation of our duties,
are so abstract and difficult as to require all the time and all
the faculties of a man. Occupied in our own affairs, we have not
leisure for these studies; nor can we exercise these functions in
our own persons. Let us choose, then, among ourselves, such
persons as are capable of this employment. To them we will
delegate our powers to institute our government and laws. They
shall be the representatives of our wills and of our interests.
And in order to attain the fairest representation possible of our
wills and our interests, let it be numerous, and composed of men
resembling ourselves.
Having made the election of a numerous body of delegates, the
people thus addressed them:
We have hitherto lived in a society formed by chance, without fixed
agreements, without free conventions, without a stipulation of
rights, without reciprocal engagements,--and a multitude of
disorders and evils have arisen from this precarious state. We are
now determined on forming a regular compact; and we have chosen you
to adjust the articles. Examine, then, with care what ought to be
its basis and its conditions; consider what is the end and the
principles of every association; recognize the rights which every
member brings, the powers which he delegates, and those which be
reserves to himself. Point out to us the rules of conduct--the
basis of just and equitable laws. Prepare for us a new system of
government; for we realize that the one which has hitherto guided
us is corrupt. Our fathers have wandered in the paths of
ignorance, and habit has taught us to follow in their footsteps.
Everything has been done by fraud, violence, and delusion; and the
true laws of morality and reason are still obscure. Clear up,
then, their chaos; trace out their connection; publish their code,
and we will adopt it.
And the people raised a large throne, in the form of a pyramid, and
seating on it the men they had chosen, said to them:
We raise you to-day above us, that you may better discover the
whole of our relations, and be above the reach of our passions.
But remember that you are our fellow-citizens; that the power we
confer on you is our own; that we deposit it with you, but not as a
property or a heritage; that you must be the first to obey the laws
you make; that to-morrow you redescend among us, and that you will
have acquired no other right but that of our esteem and gratitude.
And consider what a tribute of glory the world, which reveres so
many apostles of error, will bestow on the first assembly of
rational men, who shall have declared the unchangeable principles
of justice, and consecrated, in the face of tyrants, the rights of
nations.
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