【英文原著类】THE ANCIEN REGIME(古兵团).pdf

THE ANCIEN REGIME
THE ANCIEN REGIME
by Charles Kingsley
1
THE ANCIEN REGIME
PREFACE
The rules of the Royal Institution forbid (and wisely) religious or
political controversy. It was therefore impossible for me in these
Lectures, to say much which had to be said, in drawing a just and
complete picture of the Ancien Regime in France. The passages inserted
between brackets, which bear on religious matters, were accordingly not
spoken at the Royal Institution.
But more. It was impossible for me in these Lectures, to bring
forward as fully as I could have wished, the contrast between the
continental nations and England, whether now, or during the eighteenth
century. But that contrast cannot be too carefully studied at the present
moment. In proportion as it is seen and understood, will the fear of
revolution (if such exists) die out among the wealthier classes; and the
wish for it (if such exists) among the poorer; and a large extension of the
suffrage will be looked on as--what it actually is--a safe and harmless
concession to the wishes--and, as I hold, to the just rights--of large portion
of the British nation.
There exists in Britain now, as far as I can see, no one of those evils
which brought about the French Revolution. There is no widespread
misery, and therefore no widespread discontent, among the classes who
live by hand-labour. The legislation of the last generation has been
steadily in favour of the poor, as against the rich; and it is even more true
now than it was in 1789, that--as Arthur Young told the French mob which
stopped his carriage--the rich pay many taxes (over and above the poor-
rates, a direct tax on the capitalist in favour of the labourer) more than are
paid by the poor. "In England" (says M. de Tocqueville of even the
eighteenth century) "the poor man enjoyed the privilege of exemption
from taxation; in France, the rich." Equality before the law is as well-
plete as it can be, where some are rich and ot