Tea at Trianon: The Monarchy Debate

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Monarchy Debate

Michael LaRue, a Knight of Saint John, looks at the matter, saying:

Monarchy is often done little help by its defenders, who usually say that it is irrational but beneficial. Most often its attackers will say that it is "romanticism". However, a look at the history of political theory reveals that it is not monarchy, but democracy, that is the product of Romanticism.

Let me make clear that I am not making a critique of representative "democracy", which at its best, represents the "republican" element necessary for any healthy government: the people need to take responsibility for their own government (while at the the same it is an unavoidable fact that people must be governed). There is thus, in some modern concepts of "democracy", as expressed by some, one thinks of Winston Churchill, or the previous Holy Father (to be beatified tomorrow), an essential truth that must be taken into account in order to have a just society.

However, the previous Holy Father also warned against what he called "democraticism", that is the belief that a majority of the people must be right on any particular subject, that the fundamental and unchangeable truths of morality or religion are relative, and that their validity is subject to the judgment of the majority. This idea, which underlies most modern democracy (as well as ancient critiques of democracy), the notion that somehow a majority of the people must be right on any issue, this notion in fact is from Romanticism, especially that of Rousseau, and further it is patently irrational.

On the other hand, monarchy exemplifies precisely that personalism that was one of the hallmarks of the John Paul II's philosophy, and an aspect of personalism on which all Christians, whatever their philosophical leaning, indeed anyone who has been a student of classical philosophy, should be able to agree. This is the truth that human society is composed of and based upon relations between persons, and that therefore the good of human society is based upon loyalty to and trust in persons. (Read entire article.)

(Via Serge) Share

1 comment:

lara77 said...: I have always believed that the British set up the best government of all; it has survived for centuries. While the other major powers of Europe tottered from revolt to revolution Britain combined the best of parliamentary democracy with its ancient heritage of Christianity and monarchy. The appeal of democracy with the recognition of the nation's past and heritage spoke of the innate wisdom of the British People. France, technically the older of the nation states , never achieved the wisdom and balance of the British in governance. The French thought they could eliminate the past of faith and king and build a new order. Now I know where the communists found their heritage.; May 11, 2011 at 8:49:00 AM EDT