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Instructor’s Manual: Chapter 2

E-commerce Business Models and Concepts

Teaching Objectives
Identify the key components of e-commerce business
models. Describe the major B2C business models.
Describe the major B2B business models.
Explain the key business concepts and strategies applicable to e-commerce.

Key Terms
business model, p. 58
business plan, p. 58
e-commerce business model, p. 58
value proposition, p. 59
revenue model, p. 60
advertising revenue model, p. 60
subscription revenue model, p. 60
freemium strategy, p. 60
transaction fee revenue model, p. 61
sales revenue model, p. 61
affiliate revenue model, p. 61
market opportunity, p. 64
marketspace, p. 64
competitive environment, p. 64
competitive advantage, p. 65
asymmetry, p. 66
first-mover advantage, p. 66
complementary resources, p. 66
unfair competitive advantage, p. 66
perfect market, p. 66
leverage, p. 67
market strategy, p. 67
organizational development, p. 67
management team, p. 68
seed capital, p. 68
incubators, p. 69
angel investors, p. 69
venture capital investors, p. 69
crowdfunding, p. 69
e-tailer, p. 74
barriers to entry, p. 74
community provider, p. 74
content provider, p. 76
portal, p. 77
transaction broker, p. 80
 2

market creator, p. 81
sharing economy (mesh economy), p. 81
service provider, p. 82
e-distributor, p. 84
e-procurement firm, p. 84
B2B service provider, p. 84
scale economies, p. 84
exchange, p. 84
industry consortia, p. 85
private industrial networks, p. 85
industry structure, p. 86
industry structural analysis, p. 87
value chain, p. 90
firm value chain, p. 91
value web, p. 92
business strategy, p. 92
profit, p. 92
differentiation, p. 93
commoditization, p. 93
strategy of cost competition, p. 94
scope strategy, p. 95
focus/market niche strategy, p. 95
customer intimacy, p. 95
disruptive technologies, p. 96
digital disruption, p. 96
sustaining technologies, p. 96
disruptors, p. 96

Brief Chapter Outline

Tweet Tweet: Twitter’s Business Model?
2.1 E-commerce Business Models
Introduction
Eight Key Elements of a Business Model
Insight on Society: Foursquare: Check Your Privacy at the
Door Raising Capital
Insight on Business: Crowdfunding Takes off
Categorizing E-commerce Business Models: Some Difficulties

2.2 Major Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Business Models

E-tailer
Community Provider
Content Provider
Insight on Technology: Battle of the Titans: Music in the Cloud
Portal
Transaction Broker
Market Creator
 3

Service Provider

2.3 Major Business-to-Business (B2B) Business Models

E-distributor
E-procurement
Exchanges
Industry Consortia
Private Industrial Networks

2.4 How E-commerce Changes Business: Strategy, Structure, and Process

Industry Structure
Industry Value Chains
Firm Value Chains
Firm Value Webs
Business Strategy
E-commerce Technology and Business Model Disruption

2.6 Case Study: Freemium Takes Pandora Public

2.7 Review
Key Concepts
Questions
Projects
References

Figures
Figure 2.1 The Eight Key Elements of a Business Model, p. 59
Figure 2.2 Marketspace and Market Opportunity in the Software Training Market, p. 65
Figure 2.3 How E-commerce Influences Industry Structure, p. 88
Figure 2.4 E-commerce and Industry Value Chains, p. 90
Figure 2.5 E-commerce and Firm Value Chains, p. 91
Figure 2.6 Internet-enabled Value Web, p. 92

Tables
Table 2.1 Subscription Revenue Model Examples, p. 61
Table 2.2 Five Primary Revenue Models, p. 64
Table 2.3 Key Elements of a Business Model, p. 68
Table 2.4 E-commerce Enablers, p. 73
Table 2.5 B2C Business Models, p. 75
Table 2.6 B2B Business Models, p. 83
Table 2.7 Eight Unique Features of E-commerce Technology, p. 87
Table 2.8 Business Strategies, p. 95

Teaching Suggestions
This chapter attempts to briefly summarize the variety of ways that the Internet, Web, and
mobile platform can be used to build new business firms—firms that generate revenue
 4

and hopefully a profit. The challenge in this chapter is to focus on some simple,
unchanging realities of the business world that have nothing to do with the Internet,
and then to understand how the Internet can be used within this framework to
develop new businesses. What pundits now say about the Internet is, “The Internet
changed everything, except the rules of business.”

The chapter starts out with the tale of Twitter and business model in the opening case,
Tweet Tweet: Twitter’s Business Model. Twitter has amassed some very significant
online assets in the form of a large audience, and behavioral data on this audience.
Twitter is now monetizing these assets, by selling online advertising space in the form
of Promoted Tweets, Trends, and Accounts, as well as other methods detailed in the
case. Class discussion questions for this case might include the following:
What characteristics or benchmarks can be used to assess the business value of a
company such as Twitter?
Have you used Twitter to communicate with friends or family? What are
your thoughts on this service?
What are Twitter’s most important assets?
Which of the various methods described for monetizing Twitter’s assets do
you feel might be most successful?

Key Points
Business Models. One of the most abused phrases in the e-commerce lexicon is “business
model.” Put simply, a business model is a plan for making money. Like all models, a
business model has several components. We have described eight components: customer
value proposition, revenue model, market opportunity, competitive environment,
competitive advantage, market strategy, organizational development, and management team.
Students need to have a good understanding of each of these elements.

We discuss both business and social issues in the Insight on Society case, Foursquare:
Check Your Privacy at the Door, which focuses on Foursquare’s location-based services
business. Location-based services, which involve the merger of geo-positioning technology
(GPS) and the Internet, promise to deliver advertising and useful content to users based on
their location. However, this same technology results in the ability for a company to track a
user’s whereabouts. While encouraging users to engage with their friends by posting their
locations, these services pose significant privacy issues that users should consider. Class
discussion questions include the following:
What revenue model does Foursquare use? What other revenue models might be
appropriate?
Are privacy concerns the only shortcoming of location -based mobile services?
Should business firms be allowed to call cell phones with advertising messages
based on location?

Raising Capital. This section provides an overview of the primary ways that e-commerce
start-ups raise capital, including seed capital, incubators, angel investors, venture capital
investors and crowdfunding, a new method recently enabled by the Jumpstart Our
Business Startups (JOBS) Act. The Insight on Business case, Crowdfunding Takes Off
Another document from Scribd.com that is
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of An historical and
moral view of the origin and progress of the
French Revolution; and the effect it has produced
in Europe
 This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
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you are located before using this eBook.

Title: An historical and moral view of the origin and progress of the
French Revolution; and the effect it has produced in
Europe

Author: Mary Wollstonecraft

Release date: August 10, 2022 [eBook #68724]

Language: English

Original publication: United Kingdom: J. Johnson, 1794

Credits: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading

Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN

HISTORICAL AND MORAL VIEW OF THE ORIGIN AND
PROGRESS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION; AND THE EFFECT
IT HAS PRODUCED IN EUROPE ***
Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber
and is placed in the public domain.
 AN

HISTORICAL AND MORAL VIEW

OF THE

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS

OF THE

FRENCH REVOLUTION;
AND THE

EFFECT IT HAS PRODUCED

IN

EUROPE.

BY MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT.

VOLUME THE FIRST.

LONDON:
PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, IN ST. PAUL’S CHURCH-YARD.

1794.
 ADVERTISEMENT.

This history, taking in such a variety of facts and opinions, has

grown under my hand; especially as in writing I cannot avoid
entering into some desultory disquisitions, and descriptions of
manners and things which, though not strictly necessary to
elucidate the events, are intimately connected with the main
object; I have also been led into several theoretical investigations,
whilst marking the political effects that naturally flow from the
progress of knowledge. It is probable, therefore, that this work will
be extended to two or three more volumes, a considerable part of
which is already written.
 PREFACE.

The revolution in France exhibits a scene, in the political world,

not less novel and interesting than the contrast is striking between
the narrow opinions of superstition, and the enlightened
sentiments of masculine and improved philosophy.
To mark the prominent features of this revolution, requires a
mind, not only unsophisticated by old prejudices, and the
inveterate habits of degeneracy; but an amelioration of temper,
produced by the exercise of the most enlarged principles of
humanity.
The rapid changes, the violent, the base, and nefarious
assassinations, which have clouded the vivid prospect that began
to spread a ray of joy and gladness over the gloomy horizon of
oppression, cannot fail to chill the sympathizing bosom, and palsy
intellectual vigour. To sketch these vicissitudes is a task so
arduous and melancholy, that, with a heart trembling to the
touches of nature, it becomes necessary to guard against the
erroneous inferences of sensibility; and reason beaming on the
grand theatre of political changes, can prove the only sure guide to
direct us to a favourable or just conclusion.
This important conclusion, involving the happiness and
exaltation of the human character, demands serious and mature
consideration; as it must ultimately sink the dignity of society into
contempt, and its members into greater wretchedness; or elevate
it to a degree of grandeur not hitherto anticipated, but by the most
enlightened statesmen and philosophers.
Contemplating then these stupendous events with the cool eye
of observation, the judgement, difficult to be preserved unwarped
under the pressure of the calamitous horrours produced by
desperate and enraged factions, will continually perceive that it is
the uncontaminated mass of the french nation, whose minds begin
to grasp the sentiments of freedom, that has secured the
equilibrium of the state; often tottering on the brink of
annihilation; in spite of the folly, selfishness, madness, treachery,
and more fatal mock patriotism, the common result of depraved
manners, the concomitant of that servility and voluptuousness
which for so long a space of time has embruted the higher orders
of this celebrated nation.
By thus attending to circumstances, we shall be able to discern
clearly that the revolution was neither produced by the abilities or
intrigues of a few individuals; nor was the effect of sudden and
short-lived enthusiasm; but the natural consequence of
intellectual improvement, gradually proceeding to perfection in
the advancement of communities, from a state of barbarism to
that of polished society, till now arrived at the point when
sincerity of principles seems to be hastening the overthrow of the
tremendous empire of superstition and hypocrisy, erected upon
the ruins of gothic brutality and ignorance.
CONTENTS.
 BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.

Introduction. Progress of society. End of government. Rise of political

discussion amongst the french. Revolution in America. Virtue attempted to
be built on false principles. The croisades, and the age of chivalry.
Administration of Richelieu, and of Cardinal Mazarin. Theatrical
entertainments, and dramatic poets of the french—Moliere,—Corneille,— page
Racine. Louis XIV. The regency.—Louis XV. 1.

CHAP. II.

Marie-Antoinette. Louis XVI. Administration of Necker, and of Calonne.

Notables convened. Calonne disgraced,—and obliged to flee the kingdom. p.
His character. Causes of the enslaved state of Europe. 33.

CHAP. III.

Administration of de Brienne. Dissolution of the notables. Land tax and

stamp duty recommended by them, but refused to be sanctioned by the
parliament. Bed of justice. The parliament banished to Troyes,—but soon
compromised for its recall. Struggles of the court party to prevent the
convocation of the states-general. Banishment of the duke of Orleans, and
two spirited members of the parliament. Cour pléniere. Remarks on the
parliaments. Imprisonment of the members. Deputies of the Province of p.
Britanny sent to the Bastille. The soldiery let loose upon the people. 48.

CHAP. IV.

Necker recalled. His character. Notables convened a second time. Coalition

of the nobility and clergy in defence of their privileges. Provincial
assemblies of the people. Political publications in favour of the tiers-etat.
General reflections on reform,—on the present state of Europe,—and on p.
the revolution in France. 59.

BOOK II.

CHAP. I.
Retrospective view of grievances in France—the nobles—the military—the p.
clergy—the farmers general. Election of deputies to the states-general. 75.
Arts of the courtiers. Assembly of the states. Riots excited at Paris.
Opening of the states-general. The king’s speech. Answer to it by the
keeper of the seals. Speech of Mr. Necker. Contest respecting the mode of
assembling. Tacit establishment of the liberty of the press. Attempt of the
court to refrain it. The deputies declare themselves a national assembly.

CHAP. II.

The national assembly proceed to business. Opposition of the nobles, bishops,

and court. A séance royale proclaimed, and the hall of the assembly
surrounded by soldiers. The members adjourn to the tennis-court, and
vow never to separate till a constitution should be completed. The majority
of the clergy and two of the nobles join the commons. Séance royale. The
king’s speech. Spirited behaviour of the assembly. Speech of Mirabeau.
Persons of the deputies declared inviolable. Minority of the nobles join the
commons. At the request of the king the minority of the clergy do the same,
—and are at length followed by the majority of the nobles. Character of the
queen of France,—of the king,—and of the nobles. Lectures on liberty at the
palais royal. Paris surrounded by troops. Spirit of liberty infused into the
soldiers. Eleven of the french guards imprisoned because they would not
fire on the populace, and liberated by the people. Remonstrance of the
national assembly. The king proposes to remove the assembly to Noyon, or
Soissons. Necker dismissed. City militia proposed. The populace attacked
in the garden of the Thuilleries by the prince of Lambesc. Nocturnal orgies p.
at Versailles. 109.

CHAP. III.

Preparations of the parisians for the defence of the city. The guards, and city
watch join the citizens. The armed citizens appoint a commander in chief.
Conduct of the national assembly during the disturbances at Paris. They
publish a declaration of rights,—and offer their mediation with the
citizens,—which is haughtily refused by the king. Proceedings at Paris on
the 14th of July. Taking of the bastille. The mayor shot. Proceedings of the
national assembly at Versailles. Appearance of the king in the assembly. p.
His speech. 165.

CHAP. IV.

Reflections on the conduct of the court and king. Injurious consequences of

the complication of laws. General diffusion of knowledge. State of
civilization amongst the ancients. It’s progress. The croisades, and the
reformation. Early freedom of Britain. The british constitution. State of
liberty in Europe. Russia. Decline of the Aristotelian philosophy,
Descartes. Newton. Education improved. Germany. Frederick II. of p.
Prussia. 215.
 BOOK III.

CHAP. I.

A deputation of the national assembly arrives at Paris. Baillie chosen mayor,

and La Fayette commander in chief of the national guards. Resignation of
the ministry. Necker recalled. The king visits Paris. Character of the
parisians. The revolution urged on prematurely. Emigrations of several of
the nobility and others. Calonne advises the french princes to stir up p.
foreign powers against France. Foulon killed. 241.

CHAP. II.

The duke of Liancourt chosen president. The people arm for the defence of
the country. The municipal officers appointed under the old government
superseded by committees. Some people treacherously destroyed by
springing a mine at a civic feast. The genevese resident taken up by the
patrole. The french suspicious of the designs of Britain. Necker returns.
General amnesty resolved by the debtors of Paris. Debate on a declaration
of rights. Declaration of rights separate from the constitution determined p.
on. Sacrifices made by the nobles, clergy, &c. 263.

CHAP. III.

Reflections on the members of the national assembly. Secession of several

pseudo-patriots. Society ripe for improvement throughout Europe. War
natural to men in a savage state. Remarks on the origin and progress of
society. The arts—property—inequality of conditions—war. Picture of p.
manners in modern France. 295.

BOOK IV.

CHAP. I.

Opinions on the transactions of the fourth of August. Disorders occasioned

by those transactions. Necker demands the assembly’s sanction to a loan.
A loan decreed. Tithes abolished. Debate on the declaration of rights. The
formation of a constitution. Debate on the executive power. The suspensive
veto adopted. Pretended and real views of the combination of despots
against France. Debate on the constitution of a senate. Means of peaceably p.
effecting a reform should make a part of every constitution. 313.
 CHAP. II.

Observations on the veto. The women offer up their ornaments to the public.
Debate whether the spanish branch of the Bourbons could reign in France.
Conduct of the king respecting the decrees of the fourth of August. Vanity
of the french. Debates on quartering a thousand regulars at Versailles.
Individuals offer their jewels and plate to make up the deficiency of the
loan. The king sends his rich service of plate to the mint. Necker’s proposal
for every citizen to give up a fourth of his income. Speech of Mirabeau on p.
it. His address to the nation. 359.

CHAP. III.

Reflections on the new mode of raising supplies. No just system of taxation p.

yet established. Paper money. Necessity of gradual reform. 388.

BOOK V.

CHAP. I.

Errour of the national assembly in neglecting to secure the freedom of

France. It’s conduct compared with that of the american states. Necessity
of forming a new constitution as soon as an old government is destroyed.
The declaring of the king inviolable a wrong measure. Security of the p.
french against a counter-revolution. The flight of the king meditated. 399.

CHAP. II.

Entertainment at Versailles. The national cockade trampled under foot. A

mob of women proceed to the hôtel-de-ville—and thence to Versailles. The
king’s reply to the national assembly’s request, that he would sanction the
declaration of rights and the first articles of the constitution. Debates on it.
Arrival of the mob at Versailles. The king receives a deputation from the
women, and sanctions the decree for the free circulation of grain. The
assembly summoned. La Fayette arrives with the parisian militia. The
palace attacked by the mob—who are dispersed by the national guards. p.
Reflections on the conduct of the duke of Orleans. 420.

CHAP. III.

The mob demand the king’s removal to Paris. This city described. The king p.
repairs to the capital, escorted by a deputation of the national assembly 470.
 and the parisian militia. The king’s title changed. Proceedings of the
national assembly. Reflections on the declaration of rights.

CHAP. IV.

Progress of reform. The encyclopedia. Liberty of the press. Capitals. The

french not properly qualified for the revolution. Savage compared with
civilized man. Effects of extravagance—of commerce—and of p.
manufactures. Excuse for the ferocity of the parisians. 492.
 AN

HISTORICAL AND MORAL VIEW

OF THE

FRENCH REVOLUTION.
 BOOK I.

CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTION. PROGRESS OF SOCIETY. END OF GOVERNMENT. RISE
OF POLITICAL DISCUSSION AMONGST THE FRENCH. REVOLUTION IN
AMERICA. VIRTUE ATTEMPTED TO BE BUILT ON FALSE PRINCIPLES.
THE CROISADES, AND THE AGE OF CHIVALRY. ADMINISTRATION OF
RICHELIEU, AND OF CARDINAL MAZARIN. THEATRICAL
ENTERTAINMENTS, AND DRAMATIC POETS OF THE FRENCH,—
MOLIERE,—CORNEILLE,—RACINE. LOUIS XIV. THE REGENCY. LOUIS
XV.

When we contemplate the infancy of man, his gradual advance

towards maturity, his miserable weakness as a solitary being, and
the crudeness of his first notions respecting the nature of civil
society, it will not appear extraordinary, that the acquirement of
political knowledge has been so extremely slow; or that public
happiness has not been more rapidly and generally diffused.
The perfection attained by the ancients, it is true, has ever
afforded the imagination of the poetical historian a theme to deck
with the choicest flowers of rhetoric; though the cool investigation
of facts seems clearly to prove, that the civilization of the world,
hitherto, has consisted rather in cultivating the taste, than in
exercising the understanding. And were not these vaunted
improvements also confined to a small corner of the globe, whilst,
the political view of the wisest legislators seldom extending
beyond the splendour and aggrandizement of their individual
nation, they trampled with a ferocious affectation of patriotism on
the most sacred rights of humanity? When the arts flourished in
Greece, and literature began to shed it’s blandishments on society,
the world was mostly inhabited by barbarians, who waged eternal
war with their more polished neighbours, the imperfection of
whose government sapping it’s foundation, the science of politics
necessarily received a check in the bud—and when we find,
likewise, the roman empire crumbling into atoms, from the germ
of a deadly malady implanted in it’s vitals; whilst voluptuousness
stopped the progress of civilization, which makes the perfection of
the arts the dawn of science; we shall be convinced, that it
demanded ages of improving reason and experience in moral
philosophy, to clear away the rubbish, and exhibit the first
principles of social order.
We have probably derived our great superiority over those
nations from the discovery of the polar attraction of the needle,
the perfection which astronomy and mathematics have attained,
and the fortunate invention of printing. For, whilst the revival of
letters has added the collected wisdom of antiquity to the
improvements of modern research, the latter most useful art has
rapidly multiplied copies of the productions of genius and
compilations of learning, bringing them within the reach of all
ranks of men: the scientific discoveries also have not only led us to
new worlds; but, facilitating the communication between different
nations, the friction of arts and commerce have given to society
the transcendently pleasing polish of urbanity; and thus, by a
gradual softening of manners, the complexion of social life has
been completely changed. But the remains of superstition, and the
unnatural distinction of privileged classes, which had their origin
in barbarous folly, still fettered the opinions of man, and sullied
his native dignity; till several distinguished english writers
discussed political subjects with the energy of men, who began to
feel their strength; and, whilst only a rumour of these sentiments
roused the attention and exercised the minds of some men of
letters in France, a number of staunch disputants, who had more
thoroughly digested them, fled from oppression, to put them to
the test of experience in America.
Locke, following the track of these bold thinkers, recommended
in a more methodical manner religious toleration, and analyzed
the principles of civil liberty: for in his definition of liberty we find
the elements of The Declaration of the Rights of Man, which, in
spite of the fatal errours of ignorance, and the perverse obstinacy
of selfishness, is now converting sublime theories into practical
truths.
The revolution, it is true, soon introduced the corruption, that
has ever since been corroding british freedom.—Still, when the
rest of Europe groaned under the weight of the most unjust and
cruel laws, the life and property of englishmen were comparatively
safe; and, if an impress-warrant respected the distinction of ranks,
when the glory of England was at stake, splendid victories hid this
flaw in the best existing constitution; and all exultingly
recollected, that the life or liberty of a man never depended on the
will of an individual.
Englishmen were then, with reason, proud of their constitution;
and, if this noble pride have degenerated into arrogance, when the
cause became less conspicuous, it is only a venial lapse of human
nature; to be lamented merely as it stops the progress of
civilization, and leads the people to imagine, that their ancestors
have done every thing possible to secure the happiness of society,
and meliorate the condition of man, because they have done
much.
When learning was confined to a small number of the citizens of
a state, and the investigation of it’s privileges was left to a number
still smaller, governments seem to have acted, as if the people
were formed only for them; and, ingeniously confounding their
rights with metaphysical jargon, the luxurious grandeur of
individuals has been supported by the misery of the bulk of their
fellow creatures, and ambition gorged by the butchery of millions
of innocent victims.
The most artful chain of despotism has ever been supported by
false notions of duty, enforced by those who were to profit by the
cheat. Thus has the liberty of man been restrained; and the
spontaneous flow of his feelings, which would have fertilized his
mind, being choked at the source, he is rendered in the same
degree unhappy as he is made unnatural. Yet, certain opinions,
planted by superstition and despotism, hand in hand, have taken
such deep root in our habits of thinking, it may appear daringly
licentious, as well as presumptuous, to observe, that what is often
termed virtue, is only want of courage to throw off prejudices, and
follow the inclinations which fear not the eye of heaven, though
they shrink from censure not founded on the natural principles of
morality. But at no period has the scanty diffusion of knowledge
permitted the body of the people to participate in the discussion of
political science; and if philosophy at length have simplified the
principles of social union, so as to render them easy to be
comprehended by every sane and thinking being; if appears to me,
that man may contemplate with benevolent complacency and
becoming pride, the approaching reign of reason and peace.
 Besides, if men have been rendered unqualified to judge with
precision of their civil and political rights, from the involved state
in which sophisticating ignorance has placed them, and thus
reduced to surrender their reasoning powers to noble fools, and
pedantic knaves, it is not surprizing, that superficial observers
have formed opinions unfavourable to the degree of perfection,
which our intellectual faculties are able to attain, or that
despotism should attempt to check the spirit of inquiry, which,
with colossian strides, seems to be hastening the overthrow of
oppressive tyranny and contumelious ambition.
Nature having made men unequal, by giving stronger bodily and
mental powers to one than to another, the end of government
ought to be, to destroy this inequality by protecting the weak.
Instead of which, it has always leaned to the opposite side,
wearing itself out by disregarding the first principle of it’s
organization.
It appears to be the grand province of government, though
scarcely acknowledged, so to hold the balance, that the abilities or
riches of individuals may not interfere with the equilibrium of the
whole. For, as it is vain to expect, that men should master their
passions during the heat of action, legislators should have this
perfection of laws ever in view, when, calmly grasping the interest
of humanity, reason assures them, that their own is best secured
by the security of the commonweal. The first social systems were
certainly founded by passion; individuals wishing to fence round
their own wealth or power, and make slaves of their brothers to
prevent encroachment. Their descendants have ever been at work
to solder the chains they forged, and render the usurpations of
strength secure, by the fraud of partial laws: laws that can be
abrogated only by the exertions of reason, emancipating mankind,
by making government a science, instead of a craft, and civilizing
the grand mass, by exercising their understandings about the most
important objects of inquiry.
After the revolution in 1688, however, political questions were
no longer discussed in England on a broad scale; because that
degree of liberty was enjoyed, which enabled thinking men to
pursue without interruption their own business; or, if some men
complained, they attached themselves to a party, and descanted
on the unavoidable misery produced by contending passions.
But in France the bitterness of oppression was mingled in the
daily cup, and the serious folly of superstition, pampered by the
sweat of labour, stared every man of sense in the face. Against
superstition then did the writers contending for civil liberty
principally direct their force, though the tyranny of the court
increased with it’s viciousness.
Voltaire leading the way, and ridiculing with that happy mixture
of satire and gaiety, calculated to delight the french, the
inconsistent puerilities of a puppet-show religion, had the art to
attach the bells to the fool’s cap, which tinkled on every side,
rousing the attention and piquing the vanity of his readers.
Rousseau also ranged himself on the same side; and, praising his
fanciful state of nature, with that interesting eloquence, which
embellishes reasoning with the charms of sentiment, forcibly
depicted the evils of a priest-ridden society, and the sources of
oppressive inequality, inducing the men who were charmed with
his language to consider his opinions.
The talents of these two writers were particularly formed to
effect a change in the sentiments of the french, who commonly
read to collect a fund for conversation; and their biting retorts,
and flowing periods, were retained in each head, and continually
slipped off the tongue in numerous sprightly circles.
In France, indeed, new opinions fly from mouth to mouth, with
an electrical velocity, unknown in England; so that there is not
such a difference between the sentiments of the various ranks in
one country, as is observable in the originality of character to be
found in the other. At our theatres, the boxes, pit, and galleries,
relish different scenes; and some are condescendingly born by the
more polished part of the audience, to allow the rest to have their
portion of amusement. In France, on the contrary, a highly
wrought sentiment of morality, probably rather romantic than
sublime, produces a burst of applause, when one heart seems to
agitate every hand.
But men are not content merely to laugh at oppression, when
they can scarcely catch from his gripe the necessaries of life; so
that from writing epigrams on superstition, the galled french
began to compose philippics against despotism. The enormous
and iniquitous taxes, which the nobles, the clergy, and the
monarch, levied on the people, turned the attention of
benevolence to this main branch of government, and the profound
treatise of the humane M. Quesnai produced the sect of the
economists, the first champions for civil liberty.
 On the eve of the american war, the enlightened administration
of the comptroller general Turgot, a man formed in this school,
afforded France a glimpse of freedom, which, streaking the
horizon of despotism, only served to render the contrast more
striking. Eager to correct abuses, equally impolitic and cruel, this
most excellent man, suffering his clear judgment to be clouded by
his zeal, roused the nest of wasps, that rioted on the honey of
industry in the sunshine of court favour; and he was obliged to
retire from the office, which he so worthily filled. Disappointed in
his noble plan of freeing France from the fangs of despotism, in
the course of ten years, without the miseries of anarchy, which
make the present generation pay very dear for the emancipation of
posterity, he has nevertheless greatly contributed to produce that
revolution in opinion, which, perhaps, alone can overturn the
empire of tyranny.
The idle caprices of an effeminate court had long given the tone
to the awe-struck populace, who, stupidly admiring what they did
not understand, lived on a vive le roi, whilst his blood-sucking
minions drained every vein, that should have warmed their honest
hearts.
But the irresistible energy of the moral and political sentiments
of half a century, at last kindled into a blaze the illuminating rays
of truth, which, throwing new light on the mental powers of man,
and giving a fresh spring to his reasoning faculties, completely
undermined the strong holds of priestcraft and hypocrisy.
At this glorious era, the toleration of religious opinions in
America, which the spirit of the times, when that continent was
peopled with persecuted europeans, produced, aided, not a little,
to diffuse these rational sentiments, and exhibited the
phenomenon of a government established on the basis of reason
and equality. The eyes of all Europe were watchfully fixed on the
practical success of this experiment in political science; and whilst
the crowns of the old world were drawing into their focus the
hard-earned recompense of the toil and care of the simple citizens,
who lived detached from courts, deprived of the comforts of life,
the just reward of industry, or, palsied by oppression, pined in dirt
and idleness; the anglo-americans appeared to be another race of
beings, men formed to enjoy the advantages of society, and not
merely to benefit those who governed; the use to which they had
been appropriated in almost every state; considered only as the
ballast which keeps the vessel steady, necessary, yet despised. So
conspicuous in fact was the difference, that, when, frenchmen
became the auxiliaries of those brave people, during their noble
struggle against the tyrannical and inhuman ambition of the
british court, it imparted to them that stimulus, which alone was
wanting to give wings to freedom, who, hovering over France, led
her indignant votaries to wreak their vengeance on the tottering
fabric of a government, the foundation of which had been laid by
benighted ignorance, and it’s walls cemented by the calamities of
millions that mock calculation—and, in it’s ruins a system was
entombed, the most baneful to human happiness and virtue.
America fortunately found herself in a situation very different
from all the rest of the world; for she had it in her power to lay the
first stones of her government, when reason was venturing to
canvass prejudice. Availing herself of the degree of civilization of
the world, she has not retained those customs, which were only
the expedients of barbarism; or thought that constitutions formed
by chance, and continually patched up, were superiour to the
plans of reason, at liberty to profit by experience.
When society was first regulated, the laws could not be adjusted
so as to take in the future conduct of it’s members, because the
faculties of man are unfolded and perfected by the improvements
made by society: consequently the regulations established as
circumstances required were very imperfect. What then is to
hinder man, at each epoch of civilization, from making a stand,
and new modelling the materials, that have been hastily thrown
into a rude mass, which time alone has consolidated and rendered
venerable?
When society was first subjugated to laws, probably by the
ambition of some, and the desire of safety in all, it was natural for
men to be selfish, because they were ignorant how intimately their
own comfort was connected with that of others; and it was also
very natural, that humanity, rather the effect of feeling than of
reason, should have a very limited range. But, when men once see,
clear as the light of heaven,—and I hail the glorious day from afar!
—that on the general happiness depends their own, reason will
give strength to the fluttering wings of passion, and men will “do
unto others, what they wish they should do unto them.”
What has hitherto been the political perfection of the world? In
the two most celebrated nations it has only been a polish of
manners, an extension of that family love, which is rather the
effect of sympathy and selfish passions, than reasonable
humanity. And in what has ended their so much extolled
patriotism? In vain glory and barbarity—every page of history
proclaims. And why has the enthusiasm for virtue thus passed
away like the dew of the morning, dazzling the eyes of it’s
admirers? Why?—because it was factitious virtue.
During the period they had to combat against oppression, and
rear an infant state, what instances of heroism do not the annals of
Greece and Rome display! But it was merely the blaze of passion,
“live smoke;” for after vanquishing their enemies, and making the
most astonishing sacrifices to the glory of their country, they
became civil tyrants, and preyed on the very society, for whose
welfare it was easier to die, than to practise the sober duties of life,
which insinuate through it the contentment that is rather felt than
seen. Like the parents who forget all the dictates of justice and
humanity, to aggrandize the very children whom they keep in a
state of dependence, these heroes loved their country, because it
was their country, ever showing by their conduct, that it was only a
part of a narrow love of themselves.
It is time, that a more enlightened moral love of mankind
should supplant, or rather support physical affections. It is time,
that the youth approaching manhood should be led by principles,
and not hurried along by sensations—and then we may expect,
that the heroes of the present generation, still having their
monsters to cope with, will labour to establish such rational laws
throughout the world, that men will not rest in the dead letter, or
become artificial beings as they become civilized.
We must get entirely clear of all the notions drawn from the
wild traditions of original sin: the eating of the apple, the theft of
Prometheus, the opening of Pandora’s box, and the other fables,
too tedious to enumerate, on which priests have erected their
tremendous structures of imposition, to persuade us, that we are
naturally inclined to evil: we shall then leave room for the
expansion of the human heart, and, I trust, find, that men will
insensibly render each other happier as they grow wiser. It is
indeed the necessity of stifling many of it’s most spontaneous
desires, to obtain the factitious virtues of society, that makes man
vicious, by depriving him of that dignity of character, which rests
only on truth. For it is not paradoxical to assert, that the social
virtues are nipt in the bud by the very laws of society. One
principal of action is sufficient—Respect thyself—whether it be
termed fear of God—religion; love of justice—morality; or, self-
love—the desire of happiness. Yet, how can a man respect himself;
and if not, how believe in the existence of virtue; when he is
practising the daily shifts, which do not come under the
cognisance of the law, in order to obtain a respectable situation in
life? It seems, in fact, to be the business of a civilized man, to
harden his heart, that on it he may sharpen the wit; which,
assuming the appellation of sagacity, or cunning, in different
characters, is only a proof, that the head is clear, because the heart
is cold.
Besides, one great cause of misery in the present imperfect state
of society is, that the imagination, continually tantalized, becomes
the inflated wen of the mind, draining off the nourishment from
the vital parts. Nor would it, I think, be stretching the inference
too far, to insist, that men become vicious in the same proportion
as they are obliged, by the defects of society, to submit to a kind of
self-denial, which ignorance, not morals, prescribes.
But these evils are passing away; a new spirit has gone forth, to
organise the body-politic; and where is the criterion to be found,
to estimate the means, by which the influence of this spirit can be
confined, now enthroned in the hearts of half the inhabitants of
the globe? Reason has, at last, shown her captivating face,
beaming with benevolence; and it will be impossible for the dark
hand of despotism again to obscure it’s radiance, or the lurking
dagger of subordinate tyrants to reach her bosom. The image of
God implanted in our nature is now more rapidly expanding; and,
as it opens, liberty with maternal wing seems to be soaring to
regions far above vulgar annoyance, promising to shelter all
mankind.
It is a vulgar errour, built on a superficial view of the subject,
though it seems to have the sanction of experience, that
civilization can only go as far as it has hitherto gone, and then
must necessarily fall back into barbarism. Yet thus much appears
certain, that a state will infallibly grow old and feeble, if hereditary
riches support hereditary rank, under any description. But when
courts and primogeniture are done away, and simple equal laws
are established, what is to prevent each generation from retaining
the vigour of youth?—What can weaken the body or mind, when
the great majority of society must exercise both, to earn a
subsistence, and acquire respectability?
The french revolution is a strong proof how far things will
govern men, when simple principles begin to act with one
powerful spring against the complicated wheels of ignorance;
numerous in proportion to their weakness, and constantly
wanting repair, because expedients of the moment are ever the
spawn of cowardly folly, or the narrow calculations of selfishness.
To elucidate this truth, it is not necessary to rake among the ashes
of barbarous ambition; to show the ignorance and consequent
folly of the monarchs, who ruled with a rod of iron, when the
hordes of european savages began to form their governments;
though the review of this portion of history would clearly prove,
that narrowness of mind naturally produces ferociousness of
temper.
We may boast of the poetry of those ages, and of those charming
flights of imagination, which, during the paroxysms of passion,
flash out in those single acts of heroic virtue, that throw a lustre
over a whole thoughtless life; but the cultivation of the
understanding, in spite of these northern lights, appears to be the
only way to tame men, whose restlessness of spirit creates the
vicious passions, that lead to tyranny and cruelty. When the body
is strong, and the blood warm, men do not like to think, or adopt
any plan of conduct, unless broken-in by degrees: the force that
has often spent itself in fatal activity becomes a rich source of
energy of mind.
Men exclaim, only noticing the evil, against the luxury
introduced with the arts and sciences; when it is obviously the
cultivation of these alone, emphatically termed the arts of peace,
that can turn the sword into a ploughshare. War is the adventure
naturally pursued by the idle, and it requires something of this
species, to excite the strong emotions necessary to rouse inactive
minds. Ignorant people, when they appear to reflect, exercise their
imagination more than their understanding; indulging reveries,
instead of pursuing a train of thinking; and thus grow romantic,
like the croisaders; or like women, who are commonly idle and
restless.
If we turn then with disgust from ensanguined regal pomp, and
the childish rareeshows that amuse the enslaved multitude, we
shall feel still more contempt for the order of men, who cultivated
their faculties, only to enable them to consolidate their power, by
leading the ignorant astray; making the learning they
concentrated in their cells, a more polished instrument of
oppression. Struggling with so many impediments, the progress of
useful knowledge for several ages was scarcely perceptible; though
respect for the public opinion, that great softner of manners, and
only substitute for moral principles, was gaining ground.
The croisades, however, gave a shake to society, that changed
it’s face; and the spirit of chivalry, assuming a new character
during the reign of the gallant Francis the first, began to meliorate
the ferocity of the ancient gauls and franks. The point d’honneur
being settled, the character of a gentleman, held ever since so dear
in France, was gradually formed; and this kind of bastard
morality, frequently the only substitute for all the ties that nature
has rendered sacred, kept those men within bounds, who obeyed
no other law.
The same spirit mixed with the sanguinary treachery of the
Guises, and gave support to the manly dignity of Henry the fourth,
on whom nature had bestowed that warmth of constitution,
tenderness of heart, and rectitude of understanding, which
naturally produce an energetic character.—A supple force, that,
exciting love, commands esteem.
During the ministry of Richelieu, when the dynasty of
favouritism commenced, the arts were patronized, and the italian
mode of governing by intrigue tended to weaken bodies, polished
by the friction of continual finesse. Dissimulation imperceptibly
slides into falshood, and Mazarin, dissimulation personified,
paved the way for the imposing pomp and false grandeur of the
reign of the haughty and inflated Louis 14th; which, by
introducing a taste for majestic frivolity, accelerated the perfection
of that species of civilization, which consists in the refining of the
senses at the expence of the heart; the source of all real dignity,
honour, virtue, and every noble quality of the mind. Endeavouring
to make bigotry tolerate voluptuousness, and honour and
licentiousness shake hands, sight was lost of the line of distinction,
or vice was hid under the mask of it’s correlative virtue. The glory
of France, a bubble raised by the heated breath of the king, was
the pretext for undermining happiness; whilst politeness took
place of humanity, and created that fort of dependance, which
leads men to barter their corn and wine, for unwholesome
mixtures of they know not what, that, flattering a depraved
appetite, destroy the tone of the stomach.
The feudal taste for tournaments and martial feasts was now
naturally succeeded by a fondness for theatrical entertainments;
when feats of valour became too great an exertion of the weakened
muscles to afford pleasure, and men found that resource in
cultivation of mind, which renders activity of body less necessary
to keep the stream of life from stagnating.
All the pieces written at this period, except Moliere’s, reflected
the manners of the court, and thus perverted the forming taste.
That extraordinary man alone wrote on the grand scale of human
passions, for mankind at large, leaving to inferiour authors the
task of imitating the drapery of manners, which points out the
costume of the age.
Corneille, like our Dryden, often tottering on the brink of
absurdity and nonsense, full of noble ideas, which, crouding
indistinctly on his fancy, he expresses obscurely, still delights his
readers by sketching faint outlines of gigantic passions; and,
whilst the charmed imagination is lured to follow him over
enchanted ground, the heart is sometimes unexpectedly touched
by a sublime or pathetic sentiment, true to nature.
Racine, soon after, in elegant harmonious language painted the
manners of his time, and with great judgement gave a picturesque
cast to many unnatural scenes and factitious sentiments: always
endeavouring to make his characters amiable, he is unable to
render them dignified; and the refined morality, scattered
throughout, belongs to the code of politeness rather than to that of
virtue[1]. Fearing to stray from courtly propriety of behaviour, and
shock a fastidious audience, the gallantry of his heroes interests
only the gallant, and literary people, whose minds are open to
different species of amusement. He was, in fact, the father of the
french stage. Nothing can equal the fondness which the french
suck in with their milk for public places, particularly the theatre;
and this taste, giving the tone to their conduct, has produced so
many stage tricks on the grand theatre of the nation, where old
principles vamped up with new scenes and decorations, are
continually represented.
Their national character is, perhaps, more formed by their
theatrical amusements, than is generally imagined: they are in
reality the schools of vanity. And, after this kind of education, is it
surprising, that almost every thing is said and done for stage
effect? or that cold declamatory extasies blaze forth, only to mock
the expectation with a show of warmth?
Thus sentiments spouted from the lips come oftner from the
head than the heart. Indeed natural sentiments are only the
characters given by the imagination to recollected sensations; but
the french, by the continual gratification of their senses, stifle the
reveries of their imagination, which always requires to be acted
upon by outward objects; and seldom reflecting on their feelings,
their sensations are ever lively and transitory; exhaled by every
passing beam, and dissipated by the slightest storm.
If a relish for the broad mirth of fun characterize the lower class
of english, the french of every denomination are equally delighted
with a phosphorical, sentimental gilding. This is constantly
observable at the theatres. The passions are deprived of all their
radical strength, to give smoothness to the ranting sentiments,
which, with mock dignity, like the party-coloured rags on the
shrivelled branches of the tree of liberty, stuck up in every village,
are displayed as something very grand and significant.
The wars of Louis were, likewise, theatrical exhibitions; and the
business of his life was adjusting ceremonials, of which he himself
became the dupe, when his grandeur was in the wane, and his
animal spirits were spent[2]. But, towards the close even of his
reign, the writings of Fenelon, and the conversation of his pupil,
the duke of Burgundy, gave rise to different political discussions,
of which the theoretical basis was the happiness of the people—till
death, spreading a huge pall over the family and glory of Louis,
compassion draws his faults under the same awful canopy, and we
sympathize with the man in adversity, whose prosperity was
pestiferous.
Louis, by imposing on the senses of his people, gave a new turn
to the chivalrous humour of the age: for, with the true spirit of
quixotism, the french made a point of honour of adoring their
king; and the glory of the grand monarque became the national
pride, even when it cost them most dear.
As a proof of the perversion of mind at that period, and the false
political opinions which prevailed, making the unhappy king the
slave of his own despotism, it is sufficient to select one anecdote.
A courtier assures us,[3] that the most humiliating circumstance
that ever happened to the king, and one of those which gave him
most pain, was the publication of a memorial circulated with great
diligence by his enemies throughout France. In this memorial the
allies invited the french to demand the assembling of their ancient
states-general. They tell them, “that the ambition and pride of the
king were the only causes of the wars during his reign; and that, to
secure themselves a lasting peace, it was incumbent on them not
to lay down their arms till the states-general were convoked.”
 It almost surpasses belief to add, that, in spite of the
imprisonment, exile, flight, or execution of two millions of french,
this memorial produced little effect. But the king, who was
severely hurt, took care to have a reply written[4]; though he might
have comforted himself with the recollection, that, when they were
last assembled, Louis XIII dismissed them with empty promises,
forgotten as soon as made.
The enthusiasm of the french, which, in general, hurries them
from one extreme to another, at this time produced a total change
of manners.
During the regency, vice was not only bare-faced, but audacious;
and the tide completely turned: the hypocrites were now all
ranged on the other side, the courtiers, labouring to show their
abhorrence of religious hypocrisy, set decency at defiance, and did
violence to the modesty of nature, when they wished to outrage
the squeamish puerilities of superstition.
In the character of the regent we may trace all the vices and
graces of false refinement; forming the taste by destroying the
heart. Devoted to pleasure, he so soon exhausted the intoxicating
cup of all it’s sweets, that his life was spent in searching amongst
the dregs, for the novelty that could give a gasp of life to
enjoyment. The wit, which at first was the zest of his nocturnal
orgies, soon gave place, as flat, to the grossest excesses, in which
the principal variety was flagitious immorality. And what has he
done to rescue his name from obloquy, but protect a few
debauched artists and men of letters? His goodness of heart only
appeared in sympathy. He pitied the distresses of the people,
when before his eyes; and as quickly forgot these yearnings of
heart in his sensual stye.
He often related, with great pleasure, an anecdote of the prior
de Vendôme, who chanced to please a mistress of Charles II, and
the king could only get rid of his rival by requesting Louis XIV to
recall him.
At those moments he would bestow the warmest praises on the
english constitution; and seemed enamoured of liberty, though
authorising at the time the most flagrant violations of property,
and despotic arts of cruelty. The only good he did his country[5]
arose from this frivolous circumstance; for introducing the fashion
of admiring the english, he led men to read and translate some of
their masculine writers, which greatly contributed to rouse the
sleeping manhood of the french. His love of the fine arts, however,