Note 93 — THE ORIGIN OF THE REPUBLIC.

D’Argenson in 1752 said: “Quant à moi je tiens pour l’avènement du second article et même du républicanisme.” He meant Republicanism not in the modern sense, but in the sense of a monarchy with democratic local institutions. Aubertin, L’Ésprit public, 278, 279. Even the Ésprit des Lois gave some sanction to a Republic as an ideal form of government when it recognized virtue as the temper of society required for this form of government. Voltaire, friend of the monarchy and critic of Rousseau as he was, wrote: “Le plus tolérable des gouvernements est le républicain, parce-que c’est celui qui rapproche le plus les hommes de l’égalité naturelle.” He also compared the frequency of crimes under a monarchy with their infrequency under republics. Martin, Histoire de France, xvi, 136. Mably held that France should pass by degrees from a monarchy to a republic. Ibid., 149 et seq., Cerutti, the coadjutor of Mirabeau at a later date, had published a book on Republics. This book had been generally attributed to Rousseau. Dictionnaire Universelle.