Summaries of Articles published in French and Spanish
| DOI | 10.1177/002085236803400209 |
| Date | 01 June 1968 |
| Published date | 01 June 1968 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
i
Summaries
of
Articles
published
in
French
and
Spanish
Benjamin
Constant’s
Bicentenary
Charles
MELCHIOR
de
MOLENES
Benjamin
Constant,
who
was
a
deputy,
a
councillor
of
State,
a
philosophical
writer,
and
a
genuine
internationalist,
will
chiefly
be
re-
membered
as
an
administrator
and
adminis-
trative
lawyer,
a
precursor
of
comparative
methods,
and
a
bold
reformer
of
his
time.
Professor
Paul
Bastid
has
now
published
Ben-
jamin
Constant
et
sa
doctrine,
in
two
volumes,
to
commemorate
his
birth
two
hundred
years
ago.
The
work
contains
interesting
details
of
Constant’s
views
on
administration,
particularly
on
two
of
his
main
ideas :
how
to
link
the
work
of
subordinate
civil
servants
with
that
of
the
ministers,
by
giving
them
real
responsibility;
and
how
to
protect
the
independence
of
local
authorities
from
the
central
authorities.
Constant
had
an
exceptionally
original
and
open
mind,
and
the
last
sixteen
years
of
his
life
were
largely
devoted
to
advocating
pro-
found
changes.
No
part
of
the
administration
escaped
his
attention,
even
the
Council
of
State
whose
two
main
functions
he
considered
un-
justified
and
whose
methods
under
the
Empire
he
disliked.
He
was
also
concerned
with
the
importance
of
financing
the
Civil
Service.
In
1815,
in
his
Principes
de
politique
applicables
à
tous
les
gouvernements
représentatifs
et
particulière-
ment 8 la
constitution
actuelle
de
la
France,
he
declared
that
the
State
ought
to
honour
its
debt
in
the
same
way
as
its
obligations
to
suppliers.
One
of
his
main
beliefs
was
that
taxes,
whose
burden
caused
distress
to
the
un-
derprivileged
classes,
should
be
limited
to
the
minimum
required
for
the
country’s
security
at
home
and
abroad.
He
frequently
called
for
cuts
in
the
budget
for,
though
he
agreed
that
Parliament
had
the
right
to
increase
its
expenditure,
he
would
not
set
the
example.
He
was
against
property
taxes,
but
did
not
rule
them
out
provided
that
others
were
in-
troduced
to
affect
consumption,
for
instance.
He
objected
to
State
monopolies
such
as
that
of
tobacco,
and
opposed
capital
taxation,
while
in
favour
of
income
tax.
The
military
administration,
which
was
the
largest
and
most
powerful
at
the
time,
called
forth
his
warnings
and
suggestions
concerning
army
careers
and
their
problems.
Although
he
was
at
first
in
favour
of
the
principle
of
soldier-citizens,
he
ultimately,
after
Waterloo,
advocated
voluntary
service
and
considered
it
necessary
to
limit
the
passive
obedience
of
the
ranks
and
allow
them
freedom
of
con-
science.
Fundamentally
a
patriot
with
high
ideals
of
independence,
he
had
hoped,
in
1818,
for
an
army
of
a
million
men
and,
ten
years
later,
wished
it
to
be
adapted
to
technical
progress,
for
instance
by
equipping
the
navy
with
steamships.
He
was
neither
systematically
anti-militaristic
nor
against
the
modernization
of
armaments
but,
as
soon
as
the
Napoleonic
regime
ended,
sought
to
reconcile
the
pressing
needs
of
the
troops
with
the
freedom
of
ci-
vilians.
He
clearly
distinguished
between
three
forces:
the
gendarmerie
(investigation
and
re-
pression
of
crime),
the
garde
nationale
(main-
tenance
of
law
and
order
in
the
provinces),
and
the
armée
de
ligne
(fighting
force
in
war-
time).
The
duties
of
each
force
were
strictly
defined
and
no
changes
could
be
made
except
by
measures
carefully
specified
in
advance
and
so
arranged
that
parliamentary
control
gua-
ranteed
the
preservation
of
fundamental
free-
doms.
He
suggested
that
the
principal
military
appointments
should
be
made
by
the
Ministry
answerable
to
the
representatives
of
the
nation,
instead
of
to
the
head
of
the
State,
who
could
not
be
made
responsible
for
his
acts
and
was
inviolable.
In
Constant’s
opinion
the
duties
of
the
police
and
the
gendarmerie
were
related.
He
pro-
tested
several
times,
in
the
Chamber
of
Depu-
ties,
against
the
police
exceeding
their
powers,
was
opposed
to
the
use
of
secret
funds,
de-
nounced
the
action
of
spies
and
agents
provo-
cateurs
and,
briefly
attempted
to
improve
the
general
atmosphere
and
working
methods
of
a
public
service
necessary
for
the
maintenance
of
peace
and
morality,
despite
its
sinister
re-
putation
in
the
days
of
the
former
regime
and
the
following
years.
Constant
was
interested
in
everything
con-
nected
with
justice.
His
legal
views
are
of
only
partial
and
indirect
interest
here,
since
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