32
to one of the common arguments previously mentioned.
God gave men the power to
reason and think, so people must be allowed to use these faculties. Once people use their
reason, the nature of the debate will lead to the truth being made known. This was not the
most radical argument, but in a time of censorship, subtlety was needed. Furthermore,
“true greatness consists in having received
from heaven a mighty genius, and in having
employed it to enlighten our own mind and that of others.”
78
Again, reason comes from
God, so people should be allowed to use it. When they use it, the truth will be made
known to all.
Another key theme in Voltaire’s letters is the praise of English freedom. First, he
claimed that liberty was natural to the English and that all sects were welcome to settle in
England.
79
This plurality of religions prevented one religion from becoming dominant
over the others, and mutual toleration was the order of the day.
This kept religious leaders
from becoming “head of a party” because of their puffed up religious ambitions. It is
those religious leaders who were responsible for disturbing the peace;
philosophes
, on the
other hand, will never form a sect or “disturb the peace and tranquility of the world.”
80
Therefore, toleration kept society from becoming unstable. England’s liberty and the
peace that liberty brought was the result of the English Civil War, an incident that would
not be repeated because now the “prince is
all-powerful to do good, and, at the same
time, is restrained from committing evil.”
81
The English learned from their struggles; they
“waded through seas of blood to drown the idol of arbitrary power.”
82
78
Ibid, 23.
79
Ibid, 11, 13.
80
Ibid, 29.
81
Ibid, 15.
82
Ibid, 16.
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All of this was extremely complimentary of the English, but France had not had
the same experiences. French officials ordered that this work be burned because they
found it insulting. Voltaire, however, was not praising the English without reason, even if
his praise was overly complimentary. England was leading the way in providing freedom
to its people and creating an “Enlightened” state. One of the results of this state was that
“every man has the liberty of publishing his thoughts with regard to public affairs, which
shows that all the people in general are indispensably obliged
to cultivate their
understandings,” meaning that the freedom of the press enjoyed in England led to a more
educated, reasonable public.
83
In his praise of England, Voltaire made some clear
arguments in favor of wider freedom of expression in France.
Voltaire’s
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