Thus, look at every free People, from the mountains of Helvetia to the
forests of America; see even the free British nation, where the
Aristocracy is only the head of liberty, where the Aristocracy and
Democracy mutually respect each other, and balance each other by an
exchange of kindnesses and services which sanctify society while
fortifying it. Atheism has fled before liberty: in proportion as
despotism has receded, the divine idea has advanced in the souls of
men. Liberty lives by morality. What is morality without a God? What
is a law without a lawgiver?
I know well, and I shall give you the reason hereafter; I know well,
and I mourn to think of it, that, even up to the present time, the
French People have been the least religious People in Europe.
Is this because the intelligence of France has not that force, and
that severity, which are needed to carry long enough and far enough
the idea of God,--the greatest idea of the human soul;--that idea, as
it comes from all the evidences of nature, and all the depths of
reflection, being the most powerful and the most grave of human
intelligence,--and the intelligence of France being the most
superficial, the most light, and the least reflecting of the European
races?
Is it because our governments have always been charged with thinking,
believing, and praying, for us?
Is it that they have always given us gods of the Court, worship
according to Etiquette, and religions of State, instead of letting us
form, make, and practise our faith for ourselves, by reason, by
free-will, by voluntary piety, by association, by tradition, by the
sympathies of the community, of worship, and of the family?
Is it because we are, and always have been, a military People, a
nation of soldiers and adventurers, led by kings, heroes, ambitious
men, from battle-field to battle-field, making conquests and not
keeping them, ravaging, dazzling, charming, and corrupting Europe, and
bearing the manners, vices, bravado, lightness, and impiety of the
camp into the homes of the People?
I do not know; but it is certain that the nation has an immense
progress to make in serious thought, if it wishes to maintain its
liberty. If we look at the comparative character, in matters of
religious sentiment, of the great nations of Europe, America, and even
Asia, the advantage is not on our side. While the great men of other
nations live and die upon the scene of history, looking towards
heaven, our great men seem to live and die in entire forgetfulness of
the only idea for which life or death is worth any thing; they live
and die looking at the spectators, or, at most, towards posterity.
Thus, even at the present time, while we have had the greatest men,
other nations have had the greatest citizens. It is great citizens
that a Republic needs!