The Bastard: The Kent Family Chronicles by John Jakes Read Free Book Online

wanted. He showed Phillipe the page.
    “Have you read this?”
    “No.”
    “Well, Monsieur Diderot is no flame-eyed revolutionary. Yet he recognizes the dangers inherent in having a hereditary king—even a good one. Pay attention—”
    Girard cleared his throat, began quoting from the page:
    “ ‘It has sometimes been said that the happiest government was that of the just and enlightened despot. It is a very reckless assertion. It could easily happen that the will of this absolute master was in contradiction with the will of his subjects. Then, despite all his justice and all his enlightenment, he would be wrong to deprive them of their rights even in their own interests.’ ”
    Phillipe shook his head. “But if there are to be no kings at all, who does have the authority in this world?”
    Quickly Girard flipped pages. “This is Diderot too. ‘There is no true sovereign, there can be no true legislator, but the people.’ ”
    “You mean kings rule by their consent.”
    “By our consent. Who are the people if not you and me and even poor, love-crazed Mademoiselle Charl—come, don’t pull such a face! Is it really such an astonishing idea?”
    “Yes. I can see it leading to all sorts of trouble. Fighting—”
    “And why not?” Girard exclaimed. “Once, man swallowed every opinion or order that was handed him—” The scholar spat. “So much for the age of faith. Then, slowly, and with greater acceleration in the last hundred years, man began to perceive the power of his own reason. His power to ask why. To find logical answers in every area of human endeavor. Once unleashed, such a force can’t be halted. I venture to say that by the time your titled father passes to whatever waits on the other side of the grave—oblivion, is my opinion—the world may be radically changed, thanks in part to these fellows—our mad Jean Jacques most of all.”
    Pointing to the gold-stamped book, Phillipe said, “But honestly, a lot of that seems just gibberish.”
    “That must be overlooked! Rousseau has fired the world’s imagination. Who can say why some writers can, and others can’t? But he has! I understand he’s very popular on the other side of the Atlantic, for instance. I agree a lot of his notions are drivel. Or rehashes of what others have said before. Yet from time to time, he puts down with masterful precision some of the most astute statements on the subject of government and men’s freedoms I have ever encountered.”
    Phillipe squinted into the bright wind, his thoughts, and hence his words, coming slowly:
    “It seems to me he doesn’t like any kind of government.”
    “Quite true. He considers them all evil and unnatural. He recognizes, however, that unlimited freedom, no matter how desirable, simply won’t work. So, he compromises.”
    “The contract idea again?”
    “Yes, but carried even further. Here, the book—”
    The man’s obvious delight made Phillipe smile; Girard was like an infant with a shiny new play-bauble as he hurried through Le Contract social, hunting the section he wanted. Turning pages, he explained:
    “Master Jean Jacques actually distilled much of the political thinking of the past hundred years. He states that not only does no man in a government hold power by personal right, but that he has no authority independent of those he governs. Ah, yes—”
    He read:
    “ ‘I have demonstrated that the depositories of the executive power are not the masters of the people, but its officers. That the people may establish or remove them as it pleases. That for these officers there is no question of contracting, but only of obeying. That in undertaking the functions which the state imposes on them, they only fulfill their duty as citizens, with no right of any kind to dispute the terms—’ ”
    Phillipe whistled. “No wonder he’s notorious.”
    With a shrug, Girard closed the book. “I repeat, much of the man’s work strikes me as idiotic. His novels especially. Silly