《旧制度与大革命·卷二·第十六章·路易十六治世乃旧王朝最繁荣之时又何以加速革命》第5节
The aspect of this prosperity, already so great and so rapidly increasing, may well be matter of surprise, if we think of all the defects which the Government of France still included, and all the restrictions against which the industry of the nation had still to contend. Perhaps there may be politicians who, unable to explain the fact, deny it, being of the opinion of Molière’s physician that a patient cannot recover against the rules of art. How are we to believe that France prospered and grew rich with unequal taxation, with a diversity of customary law, with internal custom-houses, with feudal rights, with guilds, with purchased offices, &c.? In spite of all this, France was beginning to grow rich and expand on every side, because within all this clumsy and ill-regulated machinery, which seemed calculated to check rather than to impel the social engine, two simple and powerful springs were concealed, which, already, sufficed to keep the fabric together, and to drive it along in the direction of public prosperity--a Government which was still powerful enough to maintain order throughout the kingdom, though it had ceased to be despotic; a nation which, in its upper classes, was already the most enlightened and the most free on the continent of Europe, and in which every man could enrich himself after his own fashion and preserve the fortune he had once acquired. The King still spoke the language of an arbitrary ruler, but in reality he himself obeyed that public opinion which inspired or influenced him day by day, and which he constantly consulted, flattered, feared; absolute by the letter of the laws, limited by their application. As early as 1784, Necker said in a public document as a thing not disputed: ‘Most foreigners are unable to form an idea of the authority now exercised in France by public opinion; they can hardly understand what is that invisible power which makes itself obeyed even in the King’s palace; yet such is the fact.’ Nothing is more superficial than to attribute the greatness and the power of a people exclusively to the mechanism of its laws; for, in this respect, the result is obtained not so much by the perfection of the engine as by the amount of the propelling power. Look at England, whose administrative laws still at the present day appear so much more complicated, more anomalous, more irregular, than those of France! Yet is there a country in Europe where the national wealth is greater, where private property is more extended, varied, and secure, or where society is more stable and more rich? This is not caused by the excellence of any laws in particular, but by the spirit which pervades the whole legislation of England. The imperfection of certain organs matters nothing, because the whole is instinct with life.
注释摘要
托克维尔在这里摆出一个让当时许多政治家困惑的矛盾：旧制度下法国的法律和制度满是弊病——不平等的税收、五花八门的地方习惯法、国内关卡和封建权利，还有行会垄断和卖官鬻爵——可偏偏在这种看上去处处束缚的框架里，国家却在路易十六治下快速繁荣起来。他以一种略带讽刺的口吻说，有些人就像莫里哀剧中的医生那样，认为病人要是不按医书上写的来就好不了，于是干脆否认繁荣的存在。…