《旧制度与大革命·卷三·第二章·这股茫然的骚动何以在法国骤然变为炽烈的激情》第1节
In the year 1787 this vague perturbation of the human mind, which I have just described, and which had for some time past been agitating the whole of Europe without any precise direction, suddenly became in France an active passion directed to a positive object. But, strange to say, this object was not that which the French Revolution was to attain: and the men who were first and most keenly affected by this new passion were precisely those whom the Revolution was to devour. At first, indeed, it was not so much the equality of rights as political freedom which was looked for; and the Frenchmen who were first moved themselves, and who set society in motion, belonged not to the lower but to the highest order. Before it sunk down to the people, this new-born detestation of absolute and arbitrary power burst forth amongst the nobles, the clergy, the magistracy, the most privileged of the middle classes,--those in short who, coming nearest in the State to the master, had more than others the means of resisting him and the hope of sharing his power. But why was the hatred of despotism the first symptom? Was it not because in this state of general dissatisfaction, the common ground on which it was most easy to agree was that of war against a political power, which either oppressed every one alike or supported that by which every one was oppressed; and because the noble and the rich found in liberty the only mode of expressing this dissatisfaction, which they felt more than any other class?
注释摘要
托克维尔在此描绘的是一个极具讽刺意味的历史开篇。1787年，弥漫欧洲的茫然躁动在法国骤然凝聚成一股炽烈的、有明确对象的激情，但这个对象并非大革命最终要实现的权利平等，而是政治自由。更反讽的是，最先被这股激情捕获、最先推动社会运动的，恰恰是那些即将被革命吞噬的人：贵族、教士、穿袍法官、上层资产者。这些人离王权最近，最有能力抵抗君主，也最抱有分享权力的希望。托…