Frederick to Voltaire - 1766 August 13
E/
1 I expect that you will already have received my reply
2 to your penultimate letter. I cannot consider the execution
3 at Amiens as dreadful as the unjust torture of Calas;
4 Calas was innocent: a victim sacrificed by fanaticism,
5 and nothing in this atrocious action can serve as an excuse for the
6 judges. Far from it. They evade the formalities associated with legal
7 proceedings, and they condemn to torture without
8 evidence, convictions or witnesses.
9 What has just happened in Amiens is of a very different nature.
10 You will not contest that every citizen
11 must fall in line with the laws of his country; and yet, there are
12 punishments established by lawmakers for those who disturb
13 the faith adopted by the nation. Discretion, decency,
14 and especially the respect that every citizen owes to the laws, require
15 therefore that received faith is not insulted, and that
16 scandal and insolence be avoided. Reform should begin with these bloodthirsty laws,
17 and the punishment should be proportionate
18 to the crime. But, as long as these stringent laws remain
19 established, magistrates are under an obligation to pronounce
20 their judgment accordingly.
21 The religious zealots, in France, rail against the philosophers,
and
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22 and accuse them of being the cause of all the evil that happens.
23 In the last war, there were madmen who asserted
24 that the Encyclopédie caused the misfortunes
25 of the French armies. During this excitement
26 it happened that the Ministry at Versailles needed money,
27 and so the philosophers who had none and could give none
28 were sacrificed to the clergy who promised it. As for me,
29 who asks for neither money nor benedictions, I offer refuge
30 to the philosophers, so long as they behave themselves and
31 are as peace-loving as is implied by the noble title
32 with which they adorn themselves, because all the truths
33 that they announce are not worth tranquility of the soul,
34 which is the only good thing that men can enjoy on the atom
35 they inhabit. For my part, as a reasoner
36 without fervor, I would like men to be
37 reasonable and above all peaceable.
38 We know the crimes that religious fanaticism
39 has caused to be committed. Let us be careful not to introduce
40 this fanaticism into philosophy; its character should be
41 that of gentleness and moderation. It should deplore
42 the tragic end of a young man who behaved
43 extravagantly; it should point out
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44 the excessive harshness of a law made in a boorish and
45 ignorant age; but Philosophy must not
46 encourage such actions, nor should it criticize
47 the judges who could not have given a sentence different from what they gave.
48 Socrates did not worship the deos majores and minors
49 gentium; however, he attended public sacrifices;
50 Gassendi went to mass, and Newton to sermons.
51 In a society, tolerance should guarantee
52 each individual the freedom to believe what he wishes;
53 but this tolerance should not be extended so far as
54 to authorize the impudence and the lack of respect from young
55 scatterbrains who audaciously insult what the
56 people revere. These are my opinions, which
57 conform with what assures liberty and
58 public safety, the primary goal of all legislation.
59 I bet that, as you read this, you think: This
60 is all very German, and very typical of the phlegm
61 of a nation that has only embryonic passions.
62 We are, in truth, a species of plant
63 when compared to the French; for which reason we have
64 neither produced Jerusalem Delivered, nor Henriade .
65 Ever since Emperor Charlemagne thought fit
to
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66 to turn us into Christians by cutting our throats, we have
67 remained so; Perhaps our ever
68 cloudy sky, and our long winters’ chills
69 have contributed to produce this effect. In the end, take us
70 as we are. Ovid became well accustomed to the manners
71 of the people of Tomis[1]; and I have enough vainglory
72 to persuade myself that the province of Clèves
73 is worth more than \ the place / where the Danube flows through its seven
74 mouths into the Black Sea. Whereupon, I pray
75 God that he keep you in his holy and august protection. / .
Fi
[1] Constanța, historically known as Tomis, is the oldest continuously inhabited city in Romania.
