Kulstein 1966

THE IDEAS OF CHARLES-JOSEPH PANCKOUCKE, PUBLISHER OF THE MONITEUR UNIVERSEL, ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION * By DAVID I. KULSTEIN Charles-Joseph Panckoucke was one of the most successful newspaper editors and publishers of his age; among his authors were such distinguished eighteenth-century figures as Voltaire, Rousseau, and Buffon. In 1782 Panckoucke started the publication of the Encyclopedie methodique which, when completed some fifty years later, numbered well over two hundred volumes. It was, as he boasted, one of the most ambitious editorial and printing ventures under- taken up to his time.1 At the outbreak of the Revolution, Panckoucke's newspapers were virtually the only ones with the "privilege" of publishing political news. And, in Novem- ber 1789, he founded the Moniteur universel, a daily news- paper familiar to all historians of the French Revolution as one of their most frequently consulted sources. In addition, Panckoucke was himself a minor philosophe who, like his more gifted countrymen, wrote on a variety of subjects: history of philosophy, aesthetics, biology, fiscal problems, and grammar (he published a grammar for children), and who translated Lucretius, Ariosto, and Tasso. Panckoucke remains, however, a little-known figure; no biographies exist and only a few articles on details of his career.2 * Research in France for this article was facilitated by a grant from the American Philosophical Society. 1 Archives nationales (hereafter A,oN) C 77 No. 762, "Aux Messieurs le President et Deputes a l'Assemblee nationale." "Cet ouvrage est l'entreprise le plus considerable qu'on ait faite depuis qu'on imprime des livres...." 2 The most detailed discussion of Panckoucke is in a series of articles in Le Moniteur universel in the fall of 1876 (Oct. 7, 14, 28, 31 especially). However, the anonymous author seems to have used only printed sources. There is a quite lengthy biographical sketch and appreciation by a con- temporary biographer of Panckoucke's brother-in-law the journalist and academician Jean-Baptiste Suard: D.-J. Garat. Memoires historiques sur la vie de M. Suard, sur ses ecrits et sur le XVIIIe siecle (Paris, 1820), I, 269-277. E. Hatin's, Histoire politique et litteraire de la presse en France (Paris, 1859-1861) V, 85-125, also includes some information. An [304]
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IDEAS OF CHARLES-JOSEPH PANCKOUCKE This article discusses primarily but one aspect of Panck- oucke's career, his ideas on the French Revolution.3 It should be said at the outset that these ideas are neither profound nor important for their own sake. Usually the opinions of such third-rate, unoriginal thinkers as Panckoucke unques- tionably was are of little interest except, perhaps, to the social historian curious about the views of third-rate, un- original thinkers. However, if the thinker is the proprietor of several of the most influential journals of the day, his opin- ions have an interest far out of proportion to their merits. Although it is difficult even today, despite all the techniques of the social scientist, to determine the impact of the press on public opinion, it is unlikely that the subscriber to a newspaper is not, to some degree, influenced by its views. During the Second Empire, a regime that was convinced of the need for government propaganda, an official said of the influence of the press: "Every day and year on end the news- paper follows the subscriber, brings him its opinions ready made and without contradiction, repeats them in all ways and at every turn; the newspaper penetrates and succeeds in dominating the subscriber without his becoming aware of it."4 There is, in this connection, little truth in Panck- article in the Biographie universelle ancienne et moderne (Paris, 1854-1865) by L. B. Michaud adds some details. The most important articles on Panckoucke, all by an American scholar, George B. Watts, discuss his career, particularly as a publisher, before the French Revolution: "Catherine II, Charles-Joseph Panckoucke and the Kehl edition of Voltaire's (Euvres," "Modern Language Quarterly, XVIII (March 1957), 59-62; "The Comte de Buffon, and his Friend and Publisher Charles-Joseph Panckoucke," Modern Language Quarterly, XVIII (Dec. 1957); "The Encyclopedie methodique," PMLA LXXIII (Sept. 1958), 348- 366; "Voltaire, Christin and Panckoucke," French Review, XXXII (Dec. 1958), 138-143; "Panckoucke, Beaumarchais, and Voltaire's first complete Edition," Tennessee Studies in Literature, IV (1959), 81-97. Also P. Raphael, "Panckoucke et son programme de Journal officiel," La Revolution franqaise, LXIV (1913), 216-219. 3 Further research on Panckoucke would increase our knowledge of pub- lishing and the press in the eighteenth century and provide a case study of the attitudes and ambitions of the upper bourgeoisie before and during the French Revolution. I believe that the sources for such a study exist, for example, the extensive correspondence between Panckoucke and his writers, some of which has been published. Also the present day publishing house Dalloz was apparently founded by a member of the Panckoucke family and might possibly possess useful material for a biography. A.N. BB' 387, procureur general at Rouen to the Minister of Justice, April 7, 1867. 305
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FRENCH HISTORICAL STUDIES oucke's frequent assertions that he did not influence the policy and contents of the newspapers he owned.5 This was especially true of the Moniteur universel, a newspaper founded and staffed by Panckoucke after the outbreak of the Revolution (the editors of Panckoucke's other great news- paper, the Mercure de France, founded before the French Revolution, had, on the other hand, more freedom to express their personal views than did the editors of the Moniteur).6 There is a striking parallelism between the opinions of Panckoucke and those of the Moniteur universel, particu- larly the views of Jacques Peuchet, who might aptly, if anachronistically, be called the newspaper's chief editorial writer. I shall, however, heed Panckoucke's claims and base my discussion of his ideas only on the works written and signed by him.7 Most of his shorter pieces appeared first in the Moniteur universel and then were published as pamph- lets. Panckoucke's ideas on the French Revolution are insepa- rable from his career and interests during the Old Regime. His father, Andre-Joseph Panckoucke, born in 1700, founded a book store and a printing establishment at Lille, the latter important enough to publish works by Voltaire. However, the founder of the Panckoucke publishing dynasty, "le veri- table chef de la race," was Charles-Joseph.8 Apparently gift- ed in mathematics, he at first considered an academic or j. e n'ai aucune part, ni directe, ni indirecte, i la composition et redaction des Journaux et Gazettes," which he published. Moniteur uni- versel, Feb. 28, 1790. "Je declare publiquement de nouveau, que je n'ai aucune part directe ni indirecte a la redaction et a la composition de ces ouvrages periodiques..." Moniteur universel, Oct. 17, 1790. Similar disclaimers of responsibility for the contents of his newspapers are to be found in: Bibliotheque nationale (hereinafter B.N.) Ln" 15700 Memoire en faveur de M. Panckoucke, relatif aux journaux dont il est proprietaire, (no place and date of publication), 1. 6Memoire en faveur de M. Panckoucke, 2-3: "Il existe des actes solen- nels, entre lui [Panckoucke] & les Auteurs, anterieurs meme a la Revolu- tion: il doit les respecter." 7Me4moire en faveur de M. Panckoucke, 8. "Quant aux sentiments particu- liers de M. Panckoucke, et a son civisme, il les a manifest6s dans plusieurs memoires qu'il a publies dans le Mercure, le Moniteur, et dont quelques- uns ont ete distribues a 1'Assemblee nationale, et presentees aux comi- tis. "Ces ouvrages sont les seuls dont il ait d r4pondre." sMoniteur universel, Oct. 7, 1876. 306
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IDEAS OF CHARLES-JOSEPH PANCKOUCKE military career as an engineer, but, as he was the eldest son, he decided at his father's death to take over the direction of the family enterprises. In the 1760's he and his two sisters transferred the business to Paris.9 An admiring contempo- rary said of Panckoucke at this time, "He wanted to be wealthy, he wanted it very much."10 And there is no doubt that he succeeded. In 1788 he had eight hundred workers and employees, "and his workshops and offices . . . were one of the sights of Paris because of their ingenious equip- ment." n In 1782 he inaugurated the publishing venture that be- came almost a passion for the remainder of his life, the Encyclopedie methodique par ordre des matieres, a revision and rearrangement of the famous Encyclopedie of Diderot and d'Alembert. The original Encyclopedie had been organ- ized alphabetically; Panckoucke's was organized by sub- ject matter.12 Panckoucke's relations with his writers were apparently excellent, and especially so with the great of his age. A few months before his death in 1778, Voltaire wrote to Panck- oucke, who had been a close friend since 1745, that the remainder of his life "would be happy because of the solace that I feel to have found someone like you."13 In 1860 the great-grandnephew of the distinguished eighteenth-century naturalist Buffon said of Panckoucke, "Throughout his life Buffon had only praise for his editor and a difference never arose to disturb the relation which existed between them." 1u Panckoucke himself said of his relations with Rousseau: "Jean-Jacques honored me with his warmest friendship and considered me worthy of being the confidant of his most inner thoughts." 15 The Girondist Brissot, on the other hand, 9This summary of Panckoucke's career is based primarily on Garat, Memoires historiques, I, 269 ff. 1o Garat, Memoires historiques, I, 275. Moniteur universel, Oct. 14, 1876. " Panckoucke took advantage of every opportunity to call attention to his Encyclopedie, for example, in a letter of July 25, 1791, to the National Assembly. A.N. C 77 No. 762. "Watts, "Panckoucke, Beaumarchais and Voltaire," p. 91. 'Watts, "The Comte de Buffon," 313. " B.N. Lb' 5332, "Lettre de M. Panckoucke A Messieurs le PrEsident et Electeurs de 1791." (Paris, 1791), 27-28. 307
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FRENCH HISTORICAL STUDnE wrote contemptuously of Panckoucke, calling him an oppor- tunist who used the famous of the time only to increase his own wealth.16 Whatever influence Panckoucke had upon eighteenth- century opinion was, however, based more on the news- papers that he controlled than the writers he publishedo There is some truth in the assertion of the anonymous his- torian of the Moniteur universel that Panckoucke was "the first after Renaudot to understand the hitherto despised strength of public opinion, the new role of advertising and the still unrecognized influence of the newspaper." 17 During the Old Regime he founded or took over a number of news- papers and by 1789 had become the leading publisher in France.18 An example of Panckoucke's business methods was his obtaining from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ver- gennes, the exclusive right to publish political news; other newspapers sold in France, both French and foreign, had to pay Panckoucke for the privilege of reprinting such in- formation.l9 In 1778, again with the aid of Vergennes, Panckoucke purchased control of the Mercure de France, which was founded in 1672 and was one of the patriarchs of the French press, but which had been declining since about 1750o Panckoucke added the Mercure de France to the number of other newspapers which he already owned or founded: the Journal politique de Bruxelles, the Journal des dames, the Journal des spectacles, the Journal des affaires d'Angleterre et d'Amerique, the Gazette des tribunaux, etc.20 Under Panckoucke's direction the Mercure de France re- vived and was, in 1789, one of the most successful journals in France. The circulation increased from 2,000 to 15,000 6Memoires de Brissot (Paris, 1877), 63: "Ce Panckoucke etait une espece de Turcaret litteraire, courtisant les grands ecrivains dont le talent pouvait servir a sa fortune. . . " ' Moniteur universel, Oct. 7, 1876. 8 Ibid.: "I1 consacra vingt ans et des miracles d'industrie a s'emparer pacifiquement de tous les journaux victimes d'inevitables tempetes, a les sauver du naufrage, a les radouber, a les renflouer, et a les lancer de nouveau sous son pavilion et avec ses instructions dans les voyages feconds, de fructueuses expeditions vers de sourdes et sures conquetes." 19 Denise A. Azam, "Le Ministre des affaires etrangeres et la presse a la fin de l'Ancien Regime," Cahiers de la Presse, I (Jan.-March 1933), 431. "Azam, ''Le Ministre des affaires etrangeres," 434; Moniteur universel, Oct. 7, 1876. 308
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IDEAS OF CHARLES-JOSEPH PANCKOUCKE subscribers, and, although the subscription price remained the same, the Mercure de France appeared weekly instead of only sixteen times a year as before.2l In 1789 Panckoucke was also proprietor of the ancestor of all French newspa- pers, the Gazette de France, founded by Renaudot in 1631. The style of life of this merchant of ideas, as Brissot called him,22 has been described by the admiring Garat.23 One might see Panckoucke's carriage on the roads that led to the homes of Rousseau or Voltaire or Buffon, but also before the homes of the king's ministers at Versailles (Panckoucke's relations with Vergennes suggest that Garat was not invent- ing). "At his homes at Paris and Boulogne one saw . the elite of the men of letters, of artists and scholars." And, says Garat, his tastefully furnished salon revealed his ad- miration for the arts; there was nothing in it to suggest the man of affairs. The most important of Panckoucke's newspapers was the Moniteur universel that he modelled upon English news- papers that he had seen on a visit to London. With its un- usually large format the Moniteur universel was able to report the events of the Revolution, and particularly the legislative debates, more fully than any of its rivals. Accord- ing to Panckoucke the great merit of the Moniteur universel was "to have constantly, and since its founding, reported sessions of the National Assemblies, of the Convention, of the two Councils [of the Directory] with more detail than was to be found elsewhere."24 However, this feature of the Moniteur universel, which explains why it is so useful to historians, has often caused scholars to forget that so long as some freedom of the press existed during the Revolution -that is, until the fall of the Girondists on June 2, 1793-the Moniteur universel was an independent newspaper whose pronounced views on the issues of the day had a consider- 21 Moniteur universel, Oct. 14, 1876. 'Alma Soderjelm, Le Regime de la presse pendant la Revolution fran- faise (Paris, 1900-1901), I, 23. 2 Garat, Memoires historiques, I, 275. 2"B.N. 8? Lc2. 931, C. J. Panckoucke, Prospectus (Paris, 1796), I. This "Prospectus" described another of Panckoucke's newspapers, the Clef du Cabinet de Souveroins, which appeared between 1797 and 1804. 309
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FRENCH HISTORICAL STUDIES able influence on public opinion. The attitude of contem- poraries to the Moniteur universel was not unlike the atti- tude of today's readers towards the New York Times. Re- spect for the extensive coverage of the Moniteur universel inclined readers to pay heed to its views. Moreover, like the New York Times, it was during the first years of the French Revolution the newspaper of the moderates. While it can- not be said that Panckoucke's newspaper necessarily shaped the thinking of French moderates, it reenforced their opin- ions and provided them with arguments and information. What were Panckoucke's views of the French Revolution? As early as the fall of 1789 many defenders of the Revolu- tion were already charging Panckoucke with opportunism or, as he complained, with being "an enemy of the present Revolution."26 Camille Desmoulins denounced Panckoucke for defending the Revolution in his Moniteur universel and attacking it in his Mercure de France, and the Prussian Ana- charis Clootz angrily demanded why "this strange citizen,' despised by all the factions, was permitted to live.2 Until the spring of 1789 Panckoucke had not, however, written on political and social questions, aside from some platitudes on liberty in an essay on aesthetics.28 Then, short- ly before the meeting of the Estates-General, Panckoucke, who was a member of the commission that drafted the cahier of the Third Estate of Paris, wrote two memoranda on the basic problem of voting procedure in the forthcom- ing assembly: Avis d'un membre du Tiers Etat sur la reunion des ordres, and Observations sur rarticle important de la votation par ordre ou par tate. I have been unable to find either of these memoranda, but Panckoucke later quoted the 25I am presently working on a history of the Moniteur universel during the French Revolution, and, while circulation figures are not reliable, the "letters to the editor" column, to employ a term not yet coined, suggests who read the newspaper. 26Mercure de France, Nov. 21, 1789, pp. 81-82. 27Moniteur universel, Oct. 28, 1876. Desmoulins wrote: 'Quand M. Panckoucke sort des ateliers ou s'imprime son Moniteur universel, il est patriote endiable; lorsqu'il met les pieds dans l'officine de son Mercure de France, dedie au roi, une metamorphose subite s'opere en lui, et on le voit devenir aristocrate enrage." 8C. J. Panckoucke, Discours philosophique sur le beau (no date and place of publication), 32 ff. 310
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IDEAS OF CHARLES-JOSEPH PANCKouCKE key passage from the second in order to defend himself against the charge that he was a foe of the Revolution. The quotation is a resolution on the question of voting procedure that Panckoucke urged the Third Estate to adopt: The Deputies of the city of Paris demand the vote by head and not by Order. And in the event that one of the two other Orders or the two together negate or veto such a vote by head, then the Third Estate, as the representative of almost twenty-five million persons and being united with the King, proclaims itself the Nation and invites those members of the other two Orders who favor the vote by head to join it, without denying those persons who do not accept the invitation the liberty to meet by themselves during the life of the Estates General.2 In the newspaper article Panckoucke called attention to the fact that before the meeting of the Estates-General he had proposed the tactic eventually followed by the Third Estate (the Third Estate did not, of course, permit the recalcitrant members of the upper two estates to meet con- currently with the National Assembly, as Panckoucke had urged). In the interval between the meeting of the Estates-General and the fall of 1791, Panckoucke wrote only a few brief, rather technical articles on fiscal questions, apparently a new concern of his since 1789. The specific proposals that he makes are of little interest: the substitution of a metallic for a paper currency (such a currency would be harder to counterfeit and more durable);30 the right to issue what seems to be a kind of private currency or bond secured by specific property of the individual who issued it;31 a pro- posal that the government establish a legal ratio of five to one between the assignat and metallic currency and to en- force it in transactions between private individuals as well as between the citizen and the government.32 M291ercure de France, Nov. 21, 1789, pp. 81-82. 3B.N. Lf77 80, Sur une monnaie de metal (probably 1790). Reprinted from the Moniteur universel. B.N. 8? Lb4 1805, Memoire et lettres sur tes assignats (3rd ed.; Paris, An III), pp. 21-27. "Ibid., pp. 10-11. The pamphlet in which Panckoucke makes this pro- posal also offers an example; on the cover we read: "Prix cinq sous en numeraire ou vingt-cinq sous en assignat." 311
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FRENCH HISTORICAL STUDIES However, the objectives of Panckoucke's proposals are of greater interest than his specific ideas for reforms. The idea that the state might become bankrupt or repudiate even a part of its debt horrified him. "Bankruptcy is being discussed; they have even dared to pronounce the word in the National Assembly; the word has resounded in the public places, in the cafes, in the clubs."33 It is clearly the enemies of the Revolution who are planning by such a coup d'etat to incite civil war, destroy the great reforms already achieved, and return to the slavery of former days. Panckoucke also praised Louis XVI for not taking the easy way to balance the budget- at the expense of the creditor of the state.34 Even a partial repudiation of the public debt would have been sufficient to end the deficit, but, to his credit, Louis XVI refused to dis- honor the debt which the state had contracted with its people. Panckoucke's suggestions on how to deal with the na- tional debt and the vastly increased needs of the state after 1789 sum up the ideal of this member of the upper bour- geoisie. At a time when proposals were being forwarded (and under the Convention enacted) to force the wealthy to bear a greater share of the tax burden, Panckoucke's projects seem to have had as their objective to be as painless as possible to the propertied classes. Thus, in 1790, he called for a patriotic contribution, most of it to be paid by a kind of promissory note which the government could employ im- mediately.35 In the fall of 1791 Panckoucke announced his candidacy for the legislature established by the new Constitution, and, at about the same time, published two pamphlets to support 3" B.N. 80 Lbs' 3220, Sur la contribution patriotique, (no place and date of publication, but probably 1790), p. 1. Reprinted from the Moniteur uni- versel. 34 B.N. Lb" 10155, Projet d'une adresse au roi tendant a ramener le calme et la paix, a empecher la guerre et a retablir Louis XVI dans t'esprit de la nation (Paris, 1791) pp. 7-8. During the period of the Directory Panck- oucke opposed the outright repudiation of the assignat for similar reasons: "It would be a violent measure that might plunge many families into misery. And in a well-ordered state, one based on justice and humanity, the government should serve the general welfare while doing the least possible harm to the individual." Memoire et lettres sur les assignats, pp. 21-22. 35Sur la contribution patriotique, 2-3. 312
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IDEAS OF CHARLES-JOSEPH PACKOUCKEI his candidacy.36 By this time such critical events as the journee of July 14, the October Days, the flight of the King, and the conflict over his constitutional authority had gen- erated a range of attitudes toward the Revolution far more complex than the relatively simple antagonism of May 1789 between the privileged upper estates and the Third Estate. In general, Panckoucke respected the work of the Consti- tuent Assembly; he accepted the Constitution of 1791, with its concept of a constitutional monarchy and the abolition of privilege based upon birth, but he was alarmed by the break- down of order and the constant popular movements. Like so many others of his class, he feared both a return to the Old Regime and the further advance of the Revolution. "The National Assembly," he wrote, "had done more for the happiness of the human race in two years than all the wise men, the legislators, both ancient and moder, in all the centuries which preceded its existence.37 Under its guid- ance and with the inspiration of Louis XVI, who even before 1789 had anticipated the reforms of the Revolution, the French people had won their freedom, overthrown a despotic regime dominated by the nobles and clergy, abolished arbi- trary and onerous taxes and the corvee, founded political institutions that balanced and controlled each other, enacted more humane legislation, and improved the condition of the soldier. In sum, it would be a disaster for France if the achievements of the National Assembly were reversed. Panckoucke, therefore, urged Louis XVI to accept the new constitution. However, if the King could not do so, if he heeded the advice of those courtiers who claimed that the new institutions undermined his authority, then he should abdicate, in which case "your son would be proclaimed king and would reign in your place." 38 He closed his Projet with a plea and a warning to Louis XVI that it would be a tragedy for France and the dynasty if the King sought the aid of 36 Projet d'une adresse au roi, 31 pp.; B.N. Lb19 5332, Lettre de M. Panck- oucke d Messieurs le President et Electeurs de 1791 (Paris, 1791), 29 pp. 37Projet d'une adresse au roi, p .1. 38 Ibid., pp. 27-28. 313
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FRENCH HISTORICAL STUDIES European monarchs to crush the Revolution.39 Not only would it lead to a bloody civil war, but the kings who aided Louis XVI would demand their compensation if the Revolu- tion were crushed. And if the royalists were repelled, then the French people might indeed proscribe the Bourbons for- ever. If, however, Panckoucke welcomed most of the reforms enacted by the National Assembly, he also believed that cost had been very high and he was fearful for the future. The Revolution had been an unprecedented event; overthrown an entire political and social order and the system of estates and the privileges that were part of system. "More than ten thousand of the wealthiest and respected families in the nation," he wrote, "had left country." 40 The King himself was a prisoner. Commerce stagnant and money had disappeared from the market The nation was divided by the hatred between factions. Chateaux had been pillaged and burned. Thousands of sons had lost their lives. And looking on were hordes enemies of the new order, both within and outside of France, awaiting the opportune moment to restore the Old Regime. As a result, the future of France was still very uncertain ("nothing is as yet firmly established"). 4 Largely responsible for the instability of France were critics of the institution and of the powers of the monarchy, those persons who clamored for the Republic: "The Republic, the Republic! .. .there can be no freedom with an hereditary king; philosophy by itself can rule empires." 42 Even church- men, like the Abbe Fauchet, were denouncing monarchy: "Kings, kings are like parisitic plants that must be driven from the surface of the earth."43 Panckoucke, on the 3Ibid., pp. 30-31: "Considerez encore, Sire, que vous aurez B combattre une nation entiere sur ses propres foyers. Une bataille ne decidera point des destins de la France; dans toutes les villes, les villages, vous trouverez le peuple armei, resolu a perir plutot que d'abandonner 1'Assemblee nation- ale et la constitution. Vainqueur ou vaincu, vous n'auriez que des larmes a repandre; les fleuves, les rivieres de la France seront teintes du sang de vos enfants." 40 Ibid., p. 1. 4l Ibid., p. 1. 4 Lettre de M. Panckoucke a Messieurs le President et Electeurs, p. 5. 43 Projet d'une adresse au roi, pp. 3-5. 314
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IDEAS OF CHARLES-JOSEPH PANCKOUCKE trary, believed that France required and preferred "an hereditary throne," for only such a ruler could be a barrier to the ambitious after political power, while "an elective king" would open the way to tyranny and oppression.4 The hereditary monarch, said Panckoucke, should be given all the authority that his position required. This included the power to control or suppress the many administrative bodies and municipal governments which had emerged throughout France, some of them illegally.45 Moreover, unless the King retained wide powers, France, in the interval between ses- sions of the legislature, "would fall into trouble and an- archy." 6 Panckoucke not ony urged the maintenance of a strong monarchy but also defended the person of Louis XVI, a ruler not appreciated as much by his own people as by the rest of Europe for whom "that prince is the object of love." 47 Louis XVI sincerely desired the freedom of his people and had voluntarily convoked the Estates-General. He had refused to use troops to suppress the Parisians in July 1789, at a time when the army still obeyed him. The journees of October 5 and 6, 1789, when a Paris mob forced Louis XVI and the court to move from Versailles to Paris, were "crimes," "shameful events."48 Even the King's attempted flight from Paris was a legitimate act of self-defense; incendiary writ- ings attacking and outraging the King and his family were sold at the very gates of the palace. It is easy to understand why this member of the upper bourgeoisie, concerned about the decline of authority in France, should urge a strong monarchy. It is more difficult to comprehend why he defended the maintenance of an hereditary nobility. The National Assembly, he wrote, had gone too far in attacking titles. True, the nobility should not form an estate or a privileged caste as during the Old Regime, Ibid., p. 23. Lettres de M. Panckoucke a Messieurs le President et Electeurs, p. 6. " Projet d'une adresse au roi, p. 16. ' Ibid., p. 5. Lettres de M. Panckoucke c Messieurs le President et Electeurs, p. 5; Projet d'une adresse au roi, pp. 11-12. 315
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FRENCH HISTORCAL STUDIES but purely honorific titles of nobility would serve the state.49 Panckoucke believed that the disorder, the anarchy in so- ciety, the uncontrolled passions of many of the people were even more of a threat than the challenge to the institution of monarchy and the power of the King. A pressing need existed, he wrote, "to give the government all the power it required to end the troubles and the anarchy which still afflicted sev- eral parts of the Kingdom." 5 He agreed that the nobility and the clergy had enjoyed unfair privileges during the Old Regime, but this was no longer true and he denounced those "who constanty attack the former clergy, the nobility . . . who desire a revival of the horrors of the Saint-Bartholomew's massacre." 51 He cited, with horror, an article by Marat, which fortunately the government had not permitted him to pub- lish, calling upon the people to assassinate the King, the Queen, Lafayette, and the members of the National As- sembly.52 Even churchmen added to the disorder; a certain Abbe Fauchet, now a bishop, "had publicly at the altar called for the agrarian law." 53 The revolutionary clubs and sections contributed to the anarchy by their attacks on the King, his ministers, the legis- lature, even daring to legislate and to seek to control public officials.54 The members of one association, the Tyrannicides, which had its origins in the Cordeliers Club, had sworn an oath and signed it with their blood to assassinate the foes of the Revolution.55 Panckoucke was somewhat kinder to the Jacobins; they had served the Revolution at the start but were now undermining the constitution. The abuse of freedom of the press also shared responsi- " Lettre de M. Panckoucke a Messieurs le President et Electeurs, pp. 7-8: "des Dues sans duches, des Comtes sans comtes, des Marquis sans mar- quisats, n'attaquent point la declaration des droits, la libertY, l'egalite civiles et politiques." 6A.N. B1 11, Sept. 13, 1791. This is a letter to the President of the Electors of Paris. c Lettre de M. Panckoucke a Messieurs le President et Electeurs, 3 Projet d'une adresse au roi, pp. 3-4. 3Ibid., pp. 3-5. The "agrarian law," usually interpreted to mean a divi- sion of landed wealth, was the great fear of property owners during Revolution. During these years the Moniteur universel also constantly attacked the economic and social demands of the peuple, such as price fixing and the right to public relief. a Lettre de M. Panckoucke a Messieurs le President et Electeurs, pp. 4-5. 6Projet d'une adresse au roi, p. 5. 316
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IDEAS OF CHARLES-JOSEPH PANCKOUCKE bility for the breakdown of authority in society. In the fall of 1789, while insisting on his devotion to freedom of the press ("a free state cannot exist without freedom of the press"), Panckoucke attacked the license, the "incendiary writings," the slanders of the press; "those who cannot dis- tinguish tie line of demarcation which separates freedom from license have been, are, and will always be the sole enemies of liberty." 56 Again, in 1791, Panckoucke attacked the license into which the press had degenerated.57 Between late 1791 and the 9 Thermidor, Panckoucke was silent. In view of the leftward tendency of the Revolution and the now conservative views and reputation of Pan- ckoucke and his newspapers his silence is not surprising. The Moniteur universel supported the Girondists until their fall on June 2, 1793, and then abruptly changed sides to support the victorious Jacobins.58 A letter of June 18, 1793, by the editor of the Moniteur universel, Thuau-Granville, to Robespierre caused much embarrassment to the news- paper after the 9 Thermidor when it was published by a government commission.59 However, Panckoucke and the Moniteur universel, like the Abbe Sieyes, could boast that they had survived. In the Year III Panckoucke, now once again free to ex- press his beliefs, summed up his attitude toward the Revolu- Mercure de France, Nov. 21, 1789, p. 84. 7 Project d'une adresse au roi, pp. 3-5: "La liberte de la presse ayant et6 decretee, avant que le pouvoir executif fut en action et que les lois sur les delits de cette liberte fussent faites, a du degenerer en une horrible licence .... "On ferait deux-volumes in-4? de citations, extraits de Marat, autres journaux incendiaires ou l'on prechoit le meurtre, le agraire, & mille autres abominations semblables." "8 It is difficult to establish the role of Panckoucke in these rapid shifts of policy, since the archives of the Moniteur universel were destroyed in a fire during the 1850's. sA.N. F7 4435 (Plaquette 6, No. 39). The following selection suggests the tone of Thuau-Granville's letter: "Cependant vous devez avoir remarque que toujours le Moniteur a rapporte avec beaucoup plus d'etendue les discours de la Montagne que des autres. Je n'ai donne qu'un court extrait de la premiere accusation qui fut faite contre vous par Louvet, tandis que j'ai insere en entier votre reponse. ... J'ai rapporte presque en entier tous les discours qui ont ete prononces pour la mort du roi et je ne citais quelques extraits des autres qu'autant que j'y etais indispensablement oblige pour conserver quelque caractere d'impartialite." 317
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FRENCH HISTORICAL STUDES tion after the experience of Montagnard rule:6? "The reign of Robespierre," he wrote, "was horrible, but a counter- revolution would be a thousand times worse. We would fall into the most severe and shameful slavery; we would run the risk of being sold like cattle at the market; liberty would no longer exist in Europe and on the earth." There was, there- fore, no need to hesitate; "we must conquer, cause liberty to triumph or perish." If, however, Panckoucke opted in favor of the Revolution or, at least, his interpretation of it, he still believed that the price of the gains since 1789 had been high and that there were still grave perils ahead. The Revolution had seen many "crimes;" two million persons had already lost their lives; one hundred thousand worthy and talented individuals had gone to the guillotine; thousands more had died in prison, so many that their bodies, disposed of in the rivers, had polluted the waters. Nor was the danger over. The future de- pended upon the immediate establishment of a strong govern- ment: "Peace, liberty, equality, the principal bases of hap- piness, both public and private, depend ultimately upon the existence of a good government." 6 Moreover, the future would be uncertain until a thorough re-education of the people had been accomplished.62 One must repeat incessantly to "the sovereign people that liberty and equality in society are very different from what the wretches of May 31 to the 9 Thermidor had taught them." Liberty did not mean the right to harm others. If every in- dividual were free to act capriciously or in his own interests, society could not exist for a single day. The individual was free to do only what the law permitted. Equality meant only equality before the law and the right to accede to any em- ployment for which one had the required talent, education, and character. Any other kind of equality is destructive of the "social order" which exists "to protect, defend inequality." The ownership of property is "necessarily unequal just as talent, industry and merit are unequally shared by different ' Memoire et lettres sur les assignats, pp. 17-180 1 Ibid., p. 35. "2 Ibid., pp. 36-37. 318
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IDEAS OF CHARLES-JOSEPH PANCKOUCKE individuals." "These are not," continued Panckoucke, "the maxims of Robespierre and his accomplices, but those of all the true friends of the people, which, unfortunately for their own interests, the people heard too late." There is no doubt that Panckoucke was an opportunist. His career both before and during the French Revolution shows clearly the truth of Garat's statement that Panckoucke wanted very much to be weathy. The Moniteur universel itself was primarily a business venture, and, as its support of the Ja- cobins in 1793-1794 reveals, Panckoucke was willing to sacri- fice his principles in order to keep his newspaper alive. However, even an opportunist can have principles and when it was safe to express them openly Panckoucke's opin- ions were consistent. The publisher and friend of Voltaire had a distaste for much of the Old Regime, but he had a violent dislike and fear of the people and democracy. At first he believed that a constitutional monarchy could both end the abuses of the Old Regime and contain popular passions. After the fall of the monarchy and the experience of the radical republic, he believed that the solution lay in the establishment of a government strong enough to maintain order, to assure respect for property rights and to re-educate a population that had for so many years been misguided. It is likely that if Panckoucke had lived a bit longer (he died on December 10, 1798) he would have welcomed the regime established by Napoleon. San Jose State College