《旧制度与大革命·卷二·第三章·所谓行政监护亦是旧制度所创》第10节
Yet these last remnants of the ancient parochial government were still dear to the peasantry of France; and even at the present day, of all public liberties the only one they thoroughly comprehend is parochial freedom. The only business of a public nature which really interests them is to be found there. Men, who readily leave the government of the whole nation in the hand of a master, revolt at the notion of not being able to speak their mind in the administration of their own village. So much weight is there yet in forms the most hollow. What has been said of the towns and parishes of France may be extended to almost all the corporate bodies which had any separate existence and collective property. Under the social condition of France anterior to the Revolution of 1789, as well as at the present day, there was no city, town, borough, village, or hamlet in the kingdom--there was neither hospital, church fabric, religious house, nor college, which could have an independent will in the management of its private affairs, or which could administer its own property according to its own choice. Then, as now, the executive administration therefore held the whole French people in tutelage; and if that insolent term had not yet been invented, the thing itself already existed.
注释摘要
托克维尔在这里触及了一个极其悖谬的心理现实。教区自治残留下的那点形式，在行政上已经完全瘫痪——教区集会不能自行召开、不能自主支配哪怕二十五里弗的修缮费、选举出来的管事也随时可以被督办撤换——可就是这样一种被抽干了实质的“村社自由”，却依然是法国农民唯一真心在乎的公共事务。他们愿意把整个国家的统治权交给一个主人，却唯独在村庄事务上不能容忍自己失去说话的机会。…