LAMARTINE ON ATHEISM.
BY
BOSTON:
PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY,
110 Washington Street.
1850.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850,
BY PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY,
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
STEREOTYPED BY
CHARLES W. COLTON,
No. 2 Water Street.
Through the past year, M. de Lamartine haspublished a monthly journal, called The People’sCounsellor, “Le Conseiller du Peuple.” Eachnumber of this journal contains an Essay, by him,on some specific subject, of pressing interest tothe French people,—generally, some politicalsubject.
As a companion to one of these numbers, hepublished the Essay which we here translate.We have thought that its interest and merit areby no means local; but, that it will be read withas much interest in America, as in France.
Edward E. Hale,
Francis Le Baron.
Worcester, Mass. March 7, 1850.
I have often asked myself, “Whyam I a Republican?—Why am I thepartizan of equitable Democracy, organizedand established as a good andstrong Government?—Why have I areal love of the People—a love alwaysserious, and sometimes even tender?—Whathas the People done for me? Iwas not born in the ranks of the People.I was born between the highAristocracy and what was then calledthe inferior classes, in the days whenthere were classes, where are now[Pg 8]equal citizens in various callings. Inever starved in the People’s famine;I never groaned, personally, in thePeople’s miseries; I never sweat withits sweat; I was never benumbed withits cold. Why then, I repeat it, do Ihunger in its hunger, thirst with itsthirst, warm under its sun, freeze underits cold, grieve under its sorrows?Why should I not care for it as littleas for that which passes at the antipodes?—turnaway my eyes, close myears, think of other things, and wrapmyself up in that soft, thick garment ofindifference and egotism, in which I canshelter myself, and indulge my separatepersonal tastes, without asking whether,below me,—in street, garret, or cottage,there is a rich People, or a beggar People;a religious People, or an atheisticPeople; a People of idlers, or of workers;a People of Helots, or of citizens?”
[Pg 9]And whenever I have thus questionedmyself, I have thus answered myself:—“Ilove the people because I believe inGod. For, if I did not believe in God,what would the people be to me? Ishould enjoy at ease that lucky throwof the dice, which chance had turnedup for me, the day of my birth; and,with a secret, savage joy, I should say,‘So much the worse for the losers!—theworld is a lottery. Woe to theconquered!’” I cannot, indeed, saythis without shame and cruelty,—for,I repeat it, I believe in God.
“And what is there in common,” youwill say to me, “between your belief inGod and your love for the People?” Ianswer: My belief in God