Famous Documents V. The Fights of Man

Cue (NZERS), Issue 18, 28 February 1945, Page 31

Famous Documents V. The Fights of Man

EUROPEAN States have a basis of common ideas and practices, inherited from Greece, and later, Rome. But no measure of European unity was attained until the Middle Ages when Christian ideas of faith, morals, and worship established a common understanding which subsequent revolutions never entirely destroyed;. Despite a common basis of culture, with church organisation international in aim and character, this did not avail to keep' the peace. No civil institution was powerful enough to enforce or encourage such ideas. Nevertheless, feudalism, chivalry, trade organizations, universities, had an international character greater than anything to be found until the nineteenth century. . v

The passing of the mediaeval world was accompanied by the rise of-national feeling, the assertion of the independence of each state. .. From the beginning of the fifteenth to the end of the eighteenth century* only individual thinkers — Rabelais, Kant, Rousseau — their belief that the nations should live as a family. Instead, nations faced one another as rivals, and there grew up the system known as the Balance of Power, which is simply a convenient name for -the way in which states act towards one * another when there is no influence to .persuade them to concord, nor any court whose authority they are all prepared to recognize. t ■ With the French Revolution the era

of international effort begins again, and in various forms this has continued until the daring effort of the League of Nations. On the eve of the Revolution, me States of Europe appear before us independent and unrelated, ' pursuing their own selfish ends; arranging their .temporary alliances as the Balance of ower seemed to dictate; repudiating in - heir public life any control of religion a nd any obligations to mankind. < The country in which the storm broke as no t essentially different in social s ructure from its neighbours, except

that France was bankrupt, largely because her privileged classes paid no taxes. . , Failure to solve the financial problem resulted in Louis XVI calling the States-General for the first time in one hundred and fifty years. The Commons were determined to frame a Constitution which should give them greater power. The Declaration of the Rights of Man, adopted on August ist, 1789, was the basis of the Constitution. The following are some of its most prominent clauses in which 'is plainly visible the influence of the most powerful thought of the age: — ’’The • representatives of the French people, constituted as a National Assembly, believing that ignorance, forgetfulness or contempt of the rights of man are the only causes of public misfortunes and of the corruptions of governments,

have * resolved to set forth in a solemn declaration the natural, inalienable and sacred rights of man; in order that this declaration being constantly before all members of the social body may always recall to* them . their rights and their duties; in order that the acts of the legislative and executive powers being constantly capable of comparison with the objects of all political institutions may on that account be the more respected; in order that the demands of citizens being founded henceforth on simple and incontestable principles may ,

be always directed to the maintenance of the constitution and the happiness of all. "Consequently the National Assembly recognises and declares in the presence and under the auspices of the Supreme Being the following rights of the man and the citizen. ; i. "Men are born and remain free and' equal in rights. Social distinctions can only be founded on \public utility. ii. "The aim of every political association is the preservation of the 'natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression. Hi. ’’The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation. ' No body and no individual .can exercise authority, if it does not take its origin from the nation. -iv. "Liberty consists in being allowed to do whatever does not injure other people. . . .

vi. "Law is the expression of. the general will. All citizens have the right to take a part personally or through their representatives* in its formation. x. "No one should be molested for his opinions, even for his religious opinions,.. provided that their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by .law. xi. "The free /communication .of. thoughts and opinions is one!' of’ the most precious rights of man. xvii. "Property being an inviolable and . sacred right, no one can be . . - deprived of it except when public necessity, declared by form of law, makes it clearly necessary .’T. It is easy to criticize this famous document, and when constitutional details came to be arranged, some of the principles were . decidedly incorivennient. Nevertheless, the Declaration is the most characteristic example of the nobler side of the Revolution.