Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, 1689-1755

French Enlightenment political philosopher, essayist and social commentator.  Montesquieu was among the first to attempt to apply Newtonian analogies to political, social, economic and moral behavior. Conceived of the concepts of "social laws" and a natural "social equilibrium" as the balance of opposing forces, that were later taken up by the Physiocrats.  

Charles Louis de Secondat was a wealthy aristocrat of Gascon extraction.  His family (unlike many other noble houses) was heavily involved in wine industry and commerce of Bordeaux and, although Catholics, had extensive connections with the Huguenot community (Montesquieu himself married a wealthy Huguenot heiress, Jeanne de Lartigue,  in 1715).  His father, Jacques de Secondat, Baron de La Brède, was of a cadet branch and carved a career as a mercenary, before his death in 1713..  Charles Louis inherited the baronial Montesquieu title (as well as massive estates and fortune) from his uncle, Jean-Baptiste de Montesquieu, who died in 1716.

Trained in law, Charles-Louis received his degree at the University of Bordeaux in 1708, and went on to became an advocate in the parlement of Bordeaux, succeeding his uncle to its presidency in 1716.  But his early interests were in the natural sciences and literature, and he was an active participant in the provincial academies of sciences and belle lettres in Bordeaux.  Montesquieu broke into the literary world with his Lettres Persanes, published anonymously in Amsterdam in 1721.  It is a fictional travelogue of a pair of Persian visitors to France, describing the country, its inhabitants, mores and politics, including a critical exposition of John Law's system. It was well-received, and gave Montesequieu entry into the "republic of letters" in Paris, including the salon of the Marquise of Lambert and (possibly) also the celebrated Club d'Entresol, the stomping ground of early Enlightenment figures like the Abbé de Saint-Pierre and the Marquis d'Argenson. Montesqieu's 1725 Temple de Gnide, a satire inspired by the Parisian salons, was judged to be a bit too licentious at the time.  Montesquieu sold his office of the presidency of the Bordeaux parlement and invested the proceeds into his wine business.

Montesquieu was elected to the Académie française in 1728. After delivering his discourse, Montesquieu decided to depart France for a long sojourn abroad.  Leaving behind his wife to run the the wine business,  Montesquieu traveled extensively around Europe for four years, from 1728 to 1731, studying their societies and political systems.  After returning to France, Montesquieu threw himself completely into literary work, and wrote a 1734 dissertation on rise and fall of ancient Rome. Immediately after, Montesquieu began composing what would become his best-known work, L'Ésprit des Loix ("Spirit of the Laws").  Initiated in 1735, t would only finally appear in print a decade later, in 1748, in Geneva.  It is hard to call it finished - a roaming, disconnected collection of thoughts, L'Ésprit was far from a polished treatise.

Montesqueu's L'Ésprit des Loix begins with a survey and classification of types of government.  He identifies three types of government -  republic (rule of a group, which ranges in scope from democracy to aristocracy), monarchy (rule of one, but according to fundamental laws) and despotism (rule of one according to whim).  But Montesquieu's interest is less about specific forms of government, but rather in the way they govern.  For instance, he notes each system has a different underlying principle of legitimacy, that is, a measure of whether the government is acting according to the system, and the basis for whether it is to be obeyed: "virtue" in republics, "honor" in monarchies and "fear" in despotisms.  But Montesquieu is most famous for for focusing attention on the "separation of powers".  He is the first to clearly identify three branches of government - the executive, the legislative and the judicial - and to posit that whether or not these powers are separated ultimately determines whether the resulting governments are moderate or despotic, regardless of their type.  Although he acknowledges that legislative power is probably most safely held in the hands of elected representatives, he emphasizes the importance of ensuring minorities are not overruled by majorities, and the critical role of the executive in keeping the legislatures in check.

But Montesquieu's  L'Ésprit des Loix was not a political tract, but rather a scientific one. Although it is clear he has preferences,  he is not writing this to advocate political reform.  Rather, the point is to explain why certain countries have one kind of system, and other countries have another, why some have succeeded in separating powers, where others have failed.  The main "scientific" objective of L'Ésprit des Loix was to decipher the ultimate causes of "liberty", that is, to explain the political and legal systems of countries, the type and character of the government, by other factors.  Montesquieu did not single out a unique factor, but connected everything holistically - physical geography,  climate, size, location, quality of land, as well as civilizational factors, like manners, morals, religion, economy, extent of commerce, etc.  In Montesquieu's view, all these factors were important and all connected to each other.  In his grand survey, Montesquieu concluded that liberty was rare and fragile, that there was always a tendency towards tyranny.   He eschewed the notion of secular progress of civilization,  positing instead that it was circular, the civilizations rose and fell routinely, usually by chance events.  Improvements in technology, for instance, might improve a nation's prospects temporarily, but it also increased the power of government.  Unless there are "checks and balances" (Montesquieu's great adage), the tendency towards abuse of power and tyranny is almost unstoppable. 

Montesquieu singled out wars as particularly destructive as they were usually accompanied by internal measures (e.g. concentration of powers, suspension of civil liberties, increased taxation, militarization of societies) which crushed the citizenry and cleared the way to absolutism.  Montesquieu ascribed the fall of Rome to its incessant wars, which undermined liberties, corrupted the government and impoverished society. 

Contrary to Gibbon and other Enlightenment writers, Montesquieu believed Western Christianity was actually a tonic, given that the Christian church often operated in opposition to the secular state, and historically served as a check to fend off the despotism of Emperors and Kings.  He contrasts this with Roman paganism, Chinese Confucianism, and latter Inquisition days, where state and church were merged, and religion reinforced, rather than counter-balanced, the power of the State.  He viewed the emergence of Protestantism in the 16th Century, restoring an oppositional stance, in a positive light.  In his view, democratic republics were also not ideal - historical examples showed democracy was also prone to abuse and excesses and often led to tyranny.  The ideal type for Montesquieu was the moderate monarchy, of which example he has the Medieval Germanic monarchies with heavy checks and balances from other parts of society.  Liberty, Montesquieu asserted, flourishes from opposition. 

Montesquieu was particularly enthralled by the example of England, which seemed to have been able to preserve its liberties, while the rest of Europe slipped into absolutist regimes.  He ascribes much of it to her geography - islands having a natural barrier, they are less susceptible to land wars and invasions from outside, thus allowing her to society to remain de-militarized, unfortified and her taxes relatively low.  Moreover, naval powers, he asserts, are less susceptible to military coups, which are almost invariably undertaken by generals rather than admirals.  Highland civilizations - like the Swiss - also enjoy natural protections, the citizenry being scattered across mountains are harder to subjugate than in open lowland civilizations.  

Muddy, water-clogged marshes were the natural protections that preserved Venice, Holland and ancient Tyre.  But their commerce was also key.  Montesquieu believed trade and interdependence was an antidote to conflict and reduced the risk of war (although given the numerous Mercantilist-motivated wars of the time, this could be disputed).  More permanently, commerce led to the creation of a large middle class and civil society, which held on to local powers and demanded intermediate powers, forcing the separation which kept tyranny in check.

The current differences between England and France, Montesquieu asserts, are thus primarily due to France's unfortunate geographical situation.  France's extensive land borders set it up for repeated, endless wars, and consequently fated France towards absolutism, corruption and impoverishment.  England's island status might not be replicable in France, but its eschewing of land wars, its extensive commerce, its large middle class, the delegation and preservation of local powers and a vigorous parliament keeping the central government in check, had also helped preserve its liberties, and could serve as a prototype for another nations.

The L'Ésprit des Loix was a sensation, and a catalyst for the French Enlightenment which would flower in its aftermath.  But it was also severely criticized, particularly by church authorities, leading Montesquieu to compose his Défense (1750), which helped clarify and popularize the original treatise.

Montesquieu would spend his remaining years revising and expanding upon L'Ésprit.  He died on February 10, 1755, of a pulmonary infection.

D'Alembert composed an "Éloge a Montesquieu" to open the fifth volume of the Encyclopédie. Diderot had previously asked Montesquieu to contribute articles on democracy and political systems for the Encyclopédie, but Montesquieu, tired of the topic, had declined.  However, Montesquieu ended up writing one article, on taste ("goût"), completed by Voltaire, that came out posthumously in the seventh volume (1757).

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