《旧制度与大革命·卷一·第二章·革命的根本目的并非如人所想》第3节
It is a great mistake to suppose that the democratic state of society is necessarily hostile to religion: nothing in Christianity, or even in Catholicism, is absolutely opposed to the spirit of this form of society, and many things in democracy are extremely favourable to it. Moreover, the experience of all ages has shown that the most living root of religious belief has ever been planted in the heart of the people. All the religions which have perished lingered longest in that abode, and it would be strange indeed if institutions which tend to give power to the ideas and passions of the people were, as a permanent and inevitable result, to lead the minds of men towards impiety. What has just been said of religious, may be predicated even more strongly of social, authority. When the Revolution overthrew at once all the institutions and all the customs which up to that time had maintained certain gradations in society, and kept men within certain bounds, it seemed as if the result would be the total destruction not only of one particular order of society, but of all order: not only of this or that form of government, but of all social authority; and its nature was judged to be essentially anarchical. Nevertheless, I maintain that this too was true only in appearance. Within a year from the beginning of the revolution, Mirabeau wrote secretly to the King: ‘Compare the new state of things with the old rule; there is the ground for comfort and hope. One part of the acts of the National Assembly, and that the more considerable part, is evidently favourable to monarchical government. Is it nothing to be without parliaments? without the pays d’état? without a body of clergy? without a privileged class? without a nobility? The idea of forming a single class of all the citizens would have pleased Richelieu; this equality of the surface facilitates the exercise of power. Several successive reigns of an absolute monarchy would not have done as much for the royal authority as this one year of revolution.’ Such was the view of the Revolution taken by a man capable of guiding it.
注释摘要
在这段文字里，托克维尔着手处理的是一个极其顽固的误解：既然大革命激烈反教会，而民主又意味着人民主权，那么民主社会是否在本质上就带着敌视宗教的基因？他直截了当地否定了这一推论，并展开了两层递进的论证。第一层是正面澄清。他认为基督教甚至天主教的核心内涵，与民主社会所要求的精神气质之间并没有绝对排斥的关系；恰恰相反，民主社会若干根本性的倾向——譬如对人之尊严的普…