《旧制度与大革命·卷二·第十四章·十八世纪法国人的非宗教情绪及其影响》第5节
The sort of semi-constraint which was at that time imposed upon the enemies of the Church, instead of diminishing their power, augmented it. There are times when the restraint imposed on literature succeeds in arresting the progress of opinions; there are others when it accelerates their course: but a species of control similar to that then exercised over the press, has invariably augmented its power a hundredfold. Authors were persecuted enough to excite compassion--not enough to inspire them with terror. They suffered from that kind of annoyance which irritates to opposition, not from the heavy yoke which crushes. The prosecutions directed against them, which were almost always dilatory, noisy, and vain, appeared less calculated to prevent their writing than to excite them to the task. A complete liberty of the press would have been less prejudicial to the Church. ‘You consider our intolerance more favourable to the progress of the mind than your unlimited liberty,’ wrote Diderot to David Hume in 1768. ‘D’Holbach, Helvetius, Morelet, and Suard, are not of your opinion.’ Yet it was the Scotchman who was right; he possessed the experience of the free country in which he lived. Diderot looked upon the matter as a literary man--Hume, as a politician. If the first American who might be met by chance, either in his own country or abroad, were to be stopped and asked whether he considered religion useful to the stability of the laws and the good order of society, he would answer, without hesitation, that no civilised society, but more especially none in a state of freedom, can exist without religion. Respect for religion is, in his eyes, the greatest guarantee of the stability of the State and of the safety of the community. Those who are ignorant of the science of government know that fact at least. Yet there is not a country in the world where the boldest doctrines of the philosophers of the eighteenth century, on political subjects, have been more adopted than in America: their anti-religious doctrines alone have never been able to make way there, even with the advantage of an unlimited liberty of the press.
注释摘要
托克维尔在这里提出一个典型的悖论：旧制度末期法国对反教会文人的那种半心半意的压制，不但没能遏制反宗教思想的传播，反而成倍地放大了它们的力量。他的推理链条很清晰。首先，他区分了审查制度可能产生的两种截然相反的效果。在某些时刻，对著作的约束确实能阻滞舆论的进程；但在另一些时刻，同样的约束反而会加速舆论的蔓延。关键在于约束的性质与强度。旧制度下的书报审查恰恰落在…