Voltaire on England: The English Constitution and Liberty

Voltaire’s Lettres philosophiques (Letters on the English Nation, 1733) was one of the most influential books of the eighteenth century, and it was a major event in the cultural history of the Enlightenment. The book, written after Voltaire’s three-year stay in England, presented a sympathetic account of the English constitution, the English church, the English philosophy, and the English way of life. The book was banned in France, and it had to be republished in England and the Netherlands. This article examines the central arguments of the Lettres philosophiques, including Voltaire’s account of the English constitution, his views on English liberty, and his influence on French reform.

The English Years

Voltaire arrived in England in 1726, after he had been beaten by the Chevalier de Rohan and threatened with imprisonment by the French authorities. He spent nearly three years in England, and the visit was decisive for his intellectual development.

The English years gave Voltaire the opportunity to study the English constitution, the English church, and the English philosophy at first hand. He met the leading figures of the British Enlightenment — Isaac Newton, who died in 1727; the philosopher and statesman Lord Bolingbroke; the dramatist William Congreve; the painter Joseph Highmore; the writers Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift. He was admitted to the Freemasons, the first French writer of his stature to be so honored.

Voltaire was impressed by the relative freedom of the press in England, by the religious toleration enjoyed by the various Protestant and Dissenting communities, by the empirical and experimental approach to natural philosophy that Newton had exemplified, and by the system of constitutional government that had been established by the Glorious Revolution of 1688.

The Letters on the English Nation

The Lettres philosophiques were written after Voltaire’s return to France, and they were published in 1733 in England under the title Lettres sur les Anglais (Letters on the English). The French edition, with the more provocative title Lettres philosophiques, was banned in France, and Voltaire had to flee Paris to escape arrest.

The book is organized as a series of letters, in which Voltaire presents his account of the English constitution, the English church, the English philosophy, and the English way of life. The letters are written in a clear, witty, and accessible style, and they were designed to introduce the French reading public to the various features of English civilization that Voltaire had come to admire.

The most famous letters are those on the English constitution, on the English church, on Francis Bacon, on John Locke, on Newton, and on the English way of life. The letter on the English constitution, in particular, was a powerful statement of the case for constitutional government and religious toleration, and it had an important influence on the development of French political thought.

The English Constitution

Voltaire’s account of the English constitution was one of the most influential parts of the Lettres philosophiques. He presented the English system as a model of constitutional government, in which the powers of the king were limited by the powers of Parliament, and in which the rights of the citizens were protected by the rule of law.

The English constitution, in Voltaire’s view, was the most successful attempt to balance the competing claims of liberty and authority that had been made in modern Europe. The English system allowed the king to govern, but it prevented the king from governing arbitrarily. The English system allowed the Parliament to represent the people, but it prevented the Parliament from becoming tyrannical. The English system allowed the churches to operate, but it prevented any one church from dominating the others.

Voltaire was not a complete democrat. He did not believe in the principle of popular sovereignty, and he did not advocate for a republic. He was a monarchist who believed that a constitutional monarchy, with the powers of the monarch limited by a representative assembly, was the best form of government for France.

The English Church

Voltaire’s account of the English church was also influential. He presented the English system of religious pluralism as a model of religious toleration, in which the various religious communities were allowed to worship in their own ways, and in which the state did not enforce a single religious orthodoxy.

The English system, in Voltaire’s view, was superior to the French system, in which the Catholic Church had a monopoly on religious life, and in which the Huguenots and other religious minorities were persecuted. The English system allowed the various religious communities to coexist peacefully, and it allowed the state to avoid the religious conflicts that had devastated France in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Voltaire was not a defender of any particular religious position. He was a deist, and he believed that the proper response to religious difference was toleration. The English system, with its religious pluralism, was a model of the kind of toleration that Voltaire believed was necessary for the proper functioning of the modern state.

The Influence on French Reform

The Lettres philosophiques had a profound influence on the development of French political thought. The book was widely read and widely discussed, and it was an important factor in the development of the French Enlightenment.

The most important impact of the Lettres philosophiques was on the development of the French reform movement. The book presented the English model of constitutional government, religious toleration, and scientific inquiry as an alternative to the French system of absolute monarchy, religious intolerance, and scholastic philosophy. The French reformers of the eighteenth century drew on the English model in their arguments for reform, and the Lettres philosophiques was an important source of the various proposals for the reform of the French state that were developed in the decades before the Revolution.

The book also had an important influence on the development of the French Revolution. The various leaders of the French Revolution, including Lafayette and the other liberal nobles, drew on the English model in their arguments for constitutional government, and the English example was an important source of the various constitutional projects that were developed during the revolutionary period.

The Lasting Significance

The Lettres philosophiques has had a lasting influence on the development of modern political thought. The book is a basic reference for the modern tradition of comparative politics, and it is an important source of the various arguments for constitutional government, religious toleration, and scientific inquiry that have been developed in the centuries since.