Baron d'Holbach Part 3

2. There already existed in 1767 another work by Holbach ent.i.tled _Theologie portative ou Dictionnaire Abrege de la Religion Chretienne.

Par Mr Abbe Bernier_. Londres (Amsterdam), 1768 (1767). This book went through many editions and was augmented by subsequent authors and editors. Voltaire was already writing to d'Alembert about it August 14, 1767. [44:5]

In a letter to Damilaville, October 16, he writes (Vol. XIV, p. 406):

Depuis trois mois il y a une douzaine d'ouvrages d'une liberte extreme, imprimes en Hollande. _La Theologie portative_ n'est nullement theologique: ce n'est qu'une plaisanterie continuelle par ordre alphabetique; mais il faut avouer qu'il y a des traits si comiques que plusieurs theologiens memes ne pourront s'empecher d'en rire. Les jeunes gens et les femmes lisent cette folie avec avidite. Les editions de tous les livres dans ce gout se multiplient.

And on February 8, 1768, he wrote:

On fait tous les jours des livres contre la religion, dont je voudrais bien imiter le style pour la defendre. Y a-t-il de plus sale, que la plupart des traits qui se trouvent dans la _Theologie portative_? Y a-t-il rien de plus vigoreux, de plus profondement raisonne, d'ecrit avec une eloquence plus audacieuse et plus terrible, que le _Militaire philosophe_, ouvrage qui court toute l'Europe? [by Naigeon and Holbach]

Lisez la _Theologie portative_, et vous ne pourrez vous empecher de rire, en condammant la coupable hardiesse de l'auteur. Lisez _l'Imposture sacerdotale_--vous y verrez le style de Demosthene. Ces livres malheures.e.m.e.nt inondent l'Europe; mais quelle est la cause de cette inondation? Il n'y en a point d'autre que les querelles theologiques qui ont revolte les laques. _Il s'est fait une revolution dans l'esprit humain que rien ne peut plus arreter: les persecutions ne pourraient qu'irriter le mal_. [Footnote: the italics are mine.]

It is to be noted however that Voltaire's sentiments varied according to the point of view of the person to whom he was writing. In a letter to d'Alembert, May 24, 1769 (Vol. LXV, p. 453), he calls the _Theologie portative_ "un ouvrage a mon gre, tres plaisant, auquel je n'ai a.s.surement nulle part, ouvrage que je serais tres fache d'avoir fait, et que je voudrais bien avoir ete capable de faire." But in a letter to the Bishop of Annecy June, 1769, he writes (Vol. XXVIII, p. 73): "Vous lui [M. de Saint Florentin] imputez, a ce que je vois par vos lettres, des livres miserables, et jusqu'a _la Theologie portative_, ouvrage fait apparemment dans quelque cabaret; vous n'etes pas oblige d'avoir du gout, mais vous etes oblige d'etre juste" (Vol. XXVIII, p. 73).

Diderot even said of the book: "C'est un a.s.sez bon nombre de bonnes plaisanteries noyees dans un beaucoup plus grand nombre de mauvaises"

and this criticism is just. A few examples of the better jokes will suffice:

_Adam:_ C'est le premier homme, Dieu en fait un grand nigaud, qui pour complaire a sa femme eut la betise de mordre dans une pomme que ses descendans n'ont point encore pu digerer.

_Idees Innees:_ Notions inspirees des Pretres de si bonne heure, si souvent repetees, que devenu grand l'on croit les avoir eu toujours ou les avoir recus des le ventre de sa mere.

_Jonas:_ La baleine fut a la fin obligee de le vomir tant un Prophete est un morceau difficile a digerer.

_Magie:_ Il y en a de deux sortes, la blanche et la noire. La premiere est tres sainte et se pratique journellement dans l'eglise.

_Protestants:_ Chretiens amphibies.

_Vierge:_ C'est la mere du fils de Dieu et belle-mere de l'eglise.

_Visions:_ Lanternes magiques que de tout temps le Pere Eternel s'est amuse a montrer aux Saintes et aux Prophetes.

3. Holbach furnished the last chapter of Naigeon's book _Le Militaire philosophe, ou Difficulties sur la religion_, Londres (Amsterdam), 1768.

Voltaire ascribed the work to St. Hyacinthe. Grimm recognized that the last chapter was by another hand and considered it the weakest part of the book. It attempts to demonstrate that all supernatural religions have been harmful to society and that the only useful religion is natural religion or morals. The book was refuted by Guidi, in a "_Lettre a M. le Chevalier de... [Barthe] entraine dans l'irreligion par un libelle int.i.tule Le Militaire philosophe_ (1770, 12mo).

4. Holbach's next book was _La Contagion sacree ou l'Histoire naturelle de la Superst.i.tion_, Londres (Amsterdam), 1768. In his preface Holbach attributed the alleged English original of this work to John Trenchard but that was only a ruse to avoid persecution. The book is by Holbach.

It has gone through many editions and been translated into English and Spanish. The first edition had an introduction by Naigeon. According to him ma.n.u.scripts of this book became quite rare at one time and were supposed to have been lost. Later they became more common and this edition was corrected by collation with six others.

[PG transcriber's note: at this point there appears to be a break in the original text. A sentence introducing the fifth book in this list, "Letters to Eugenie", has evidently been lost.]

The letters were written in 1764, according to Lequinio (_Feuilles posthumes_), who had his information from Naigeon, to Marguerite, Marchioness de Vermandois in answer to a very touching and pitiful letter from that lady who was in great trouble over religion. Her young husband was a great friend of the Holbachs, but having had a strict Catholic bringing up she was shocked at their infidelity and warned by her confessor to keep away from them. "Yet in their home she saw all the domestic virtues exemplified and beheld that sweet and unchangeable affection for which the d'Holbachs were eminently distinguished among their acquaintances and which was remarkable for its striking contrast with the courtly and Christian habits of the day. Her natural good sense and love for her friends struggled with her monastic education and reverence for the priests. The conflict rendered her miserable and she returned to her country seat to brood over it. In this state of mind she at length wrote to the Baron and laid open her situation requesting him to comfort, console, and enlighten her." [47:7] His letters accomplished the desired effect and he later published them in the hope that they would do as much for others. They were carefully revised before they were sent to the press. All the purely personal pa.s.sages were omitted and others added to hide the ident.i.ty of the persons concerned. Letters of the sort to religious ladies were common at this time. Freret's were preventive, Holbach's curative, but appear to be rather strong dose for a _devote_. Other examples are Voltaire's _Epitre a Uranie_ and Diderot's _Entretien d'un Philosophe avec la Marechale de..._.

6. In 1769 Holbach published two short treatises on the doctrine of eternal punishment which claimed to be translations from English, but the originals are not to be found. The t.i.tles are _De l'intolerance convaincue de crime et de folie_ as it is sometimes given, and--

7. _L'Enfer detruit ou Examen raisonne du Dogme de l'Eternite des Peines_. Londres, Amsterdam, 1769. This letter was translated into English under the t.i.tle _h.e.l.l Destroyed!_ "Now first translated from the French of d'Alembert without any mutilations," London 1823, which led Mr. J. Hibbert to say, "I know not why English publishers attribute this awfully sounding work to the cautious, not to say timid d'Alembert. It was followed by Whitefoot's _'Torments of h.e.l.l,'_ now first translated from the French." [47:8]

Of Holbach's remaining works on religion two, _Histoire critique de Jesus Christ_ and _Tableau des Saints_, date from 1770 when he began to publish his more philosophical works.

8. The _Histoire critique de Jesus Christ ou a.n.a.lyse raisonnee des Evangiles_ was published without name of place or date. It was preceded by Voltaire's _Epitre a Uranie_. It is an extremely careful but unsympathetic a.n.a.lysis of the Gospel accounts, emphasizing all the inconsistencies and interpreting them with a literalness that they can ill sustain. From this rationalistic view-point Holbach found the Gospels a tissue of absurdities and contradictions. His method, however, would not be followed by the critique of today.

9. The _Tableau des Saints_ is a still more severe criticism of the heroes of Christendom. Holbach's proposition is "La raison ne connait qu'une mesure pour juger et les hommes et les choses, c'est l'utilite reelle et permanente, qui en resulte pour notre espece," (p. 111).

Judged by this standard, the saints with their eyes fixed on another world have fallen far short. "Ils se flatterent de meriter le ciel en se rendant parfaitement inutile a la terre" (p. xviii). Holbach much prefers the heroes of cla.s.sical antiquity. The book is violent but learned throughout, and deals not only with the Jewish patriarchs from Moses on but with the church fathers and Christian Princes down to the contemporary defenders of the faith. After a rather one-sided account of the most dreary characters and events in Christian history, Holbach concludes: "Tel fut, tel est, et tel sera toujours l'esprit du Christianisme: il est aise de sentir qu'il est incompatible avec les principes les plus evidens de la morale et de la saine politique" (p.

208).

10. In _Recueil philosophique_, Londres (Amsterdam), 1770, edited by Naigeon. Reflexions sur les craintes de la Mort. Probleme important--La Religion est-elle necessaire a la morale et utile a la Politique. Par M.

Mirabaud.

11. _Essai sur les prejuges, ou De l'influence des opinions sur les moeurs et sur le bonheur des Hommes_. Londres (Amsterdam), 1770, under name of Dumarsais. The book pretended to be an elaboration of Dumarsais'

essay on the _Philosophe_ published in the _Nouvelles libertes de penser_, 1750.

The special interest connected with it was the refutation Frederick the Great published under the t.i.tle _Examen de l'Essai sur les prejuges_, Londres, Nourse, 1770 (16 mo). The King of Prussia writing from the point of view of a practical, enlightened despot, took special exception to Holbach's remarks on government. "Il l'outrage avec autant de grossierete que d'indecence, il force le gouvernement de prendre fait et cause avec l'eglise pour s'opposer a l'ennemi commun. Mais, quand avec un acharnement violent et les traits de la plus acre satire, il calomnie son Roi et le gouvernement de son pays, on le prend pour un frenetique echappe de ses chaines, et livre aux transports les plus violens de sa rage. Quoi, Monsieur le philosophe, protecteur des moeurs et de la vertu, ignorez vous qu'un bon citoyen doit respecter la forme de gouvernement sous laquelle il vit, ignorez vous qu'il ne convient point a un particulier d'insulter les Puissances..." (p. 28).

"Non content d'insulter a toutes les tetes couronnes de l'Europe, notre philosophe s'amuse, en pa.s.sant, a repandre du ridicule sur les ouvrages de Hugo Grotius. J'oserais croire qu'il n'en sera pas cru sur sa parole, et que le _Droit de la guerre et de la paix_ ira plus loin a la posterite que _l'Essai sur les prejuges_" (p. 39).

Holbach in his anti-militaristic enthusiasm had used the words "bourreaux mercenaires"; "epithete elegante," continues Frederick, "dont il honore les guerriers. Mais souffrions nous qu'un cerveau brule insulte au plus n.o.ble emploi de la Societe?" (p.49). He goes on to defend war in good old-fas.h.i.+oned terms. "Vous declamez contre la guerre, elle est funeste en elle-meme; mais c'est un mal comme ces autres fleaux du ciel qu'il faut supposer necessaires dans l'arrangement de cet univers parce qu'ils arrivent periodiquement et qu'aucun siecle n'a pu jusqu'a present d'en avoir ete exempt. J'ai prouve que de tout temps l'erreur a domine dans ce monde; et comme une chose aussi constante peut etre envisagee comme une loi general de la nature, j'en conclus que ce qui a ete toujours sera toujours le meme" (p. 19).

Frederick sent his little refutation to Voltaire for his compliments which were forthcoming. A few days after Voltaire wrote to d'Alembert:

Le roi de Prusse vous a envoye, sans doute, son pet.i.t ecrit contre un livre imprime cette annee, int.i.tule _Essai sur les prejuges_, ce roi a aussi les siens, qu'il faut lui pardonner; on n'est pas roi pour rien.

Mais je voudrais savoir quel est l'auteur de cet _Essai_ contre lequel sa majeste prussienne s'amuse a ecrire un peu durement. Serait-il de Diderot? serait-il de Damilaville? serait-il d'Helvetius? peut-etre ne le connaissez-vous point, je le crois imprime en Hollande (Vol. LXVI, p.

304).

D'Alembert answered:

Oui, le roi de Prusse m'a envoye son ecrit contre _l'Essai sur les prejuges_. Je ne suis point etonne que ce prince n'ait pas goute l'ouvrage; je l'ai lu depuis cette refutation et il m'a paru bien long, bien monotone et trop amer. Il me semble que ce qu'il y de bon dans ce livre aurait pu et du etre noye dans moins de pages et je vois que vous en avez porte a peu pres le meme jugement (Vol. LXVI, p. 324).

In spite of these unfavorable judgments the _Essai_ was reprinted as late as 1886 by the Bibliotheque Nationale in its _Collection des meilleurs auteurs anciens et modernes_, still attributed to Dumarsais with the account of his life by "le citoyen Daube" which graced the edition of the year I. (1792)

12. Early in 1770 appeared Holbach's most famous book, the _Systeme de la Nature_, the only book that is connected with his name in the minds of most historians and philosophers. It seems wiser, however, to deal with this work in a chapter apart and continue the account of his later publications.

13. The next of which was _Le bon-sens, ou idees naturelles opposees aux idees surnaturelles. Par l'Auteur du Systeme de la Nature_, Londres (Amsterdam), 1772. This work has gone through twenty-five editions or more and has been translated into English, German, Italian and Spanish.

As early as 1791 it began to be published under the name of the cure Jean Meslier d'Etrepigny, made so famous by Voltaire's publication of what was supposed to be his last will and testament in which on his death bed he abjured and cursed Christianity. Some editions contain in the preface Letters by Voltaire and his sketch of Jean Meslier. The last reprint was by De Laurence, Scott & Co., Chicago, 1910. The book is nothing more or less than the _Systeme de la Nature_, in a greatly reduced and more readable form.

Voltaire, to whom it was attributed by some, said to d'Alembert, "Il y a plus que du bon sens dans ce livre, il est terrible. S'il sort de la boutique du _Systeme de la Nature_, l'auteur s'est bien perfectionne."

D'Alembert answered: "Je pense comme vous sur le _Bon-sens_ qui me parait un bien plus terrible livre que le _Systeme de la Nature_." These remarks were inscribed by Thomas Jefferson on the t.i.tle page of his copy of _Bon-sens_. The book has gone through several editions in the United States and was sold at a popular price. The German translation was published in Baltimore on the basis of a copy found in a second-hand book store in New Orleans. The most serious work written against it is a long and carefully written treatise against materialism by an Italian monk, Gardini, ent.i.tled _L'anima umana e sue proprieta dedotte da soli principi de ragione, dal P. lettore D. Antonmaria Gardini, monaco camaldalese, contro i materialisti e specialmente contro l'opera int.i.tulata, le Bon-Sens, ou Idees Naturelles opposees aux idees Surnaturelles. In Padova MDCCLx.x.xI Nella stamperia del Seminario.

Appresso Giovanni Manfre, Con Licenza de Superiori e Privilegio_ (8vo, p. xx + 284).

14. In 1773 Holbach published his _Recherches sur les Miracles_, a much more sober work than his previous writings on religion. In this book he raises the well known difficulties with belief in miracles and brings a great deal of real learning and logic to bear on the question. The entire work is in a reasonable and philosophic spirit. His conclusion is that "une vraie religion doit avoir au defaut de bonnes raisons, des preuves sensibles, capables de faire impression sur tout ceux qui la cherchent de bonne foi. Ce ne sont pas les miracles." The same year he published two serious but somewhat tiresome works on politics.

15. _La politique naturelle_.

16. _Systeme social_ in which he attempts to reduce government to the naturalistic principles which were the basis of his entire philosophy.

The first is also attributed to Malesherbes. There is a long and keen criticism of the _Systeme Social_ by Mme. d'Epinay in a letter to Abbe Galiani Jan. 12, 1773 (Gal. _Corresp._, Vol. II, p. 167).

But the most interesting reaction upon it was that of the Abbe Richard who criticized it from point of view of the divine right of kings in his long and tiresome work ent.i.tled _La Defense de la religion, de la morale, de la vertu, de la politique et de la societe, dans la refutation des ouvrages qui ont pour t.i.tre, l'un Systeme Social etc.

Vautre La Politique Naturelle par le R. P. Ch. L. Richard, Professeur de Theologie_, etc., Paris, Moulard, 1775.

In a preface of forty-seven pages the fears of the conservative old Abbe are well expressed. The aim of these modern philosophers who are poisoning public opinion by their writings is to "demolir avec l'antique edifice de la religion chretienne, celui des moeurs, de la vertu, de la saine politique etc. rompre tous les canaux de communication entre la terre et le ciel, bannir, exterminer du monde le Dieu qui le tira du neant, y introduire l'impiete la plus complete, la licence la plus consomnee, l'anarchie la plus entiere, la confusion la plus horrible."