Minerva's Message: Stabilizing the French Revolution

Leonard Adams is a professor of French Studies at the University of
Guelph.

The search for renewal in the aftermath of the French Revolution brought
about the creation of the National Institute of Sciences and Arts to
replace the former academies. The principal architects of the reform
movement became members of a kind of brains trust formed within the
Institute and known as the Class of Moral and Political Sciences (CMPS).
Their aim was to advise the nation on ways of utilizing the energies
that the revolutionary spirit had unleashed in France. At the top of
their list of priorities was the restoration of stability in French
society.

Professor Staum’s new book sets out in clear, precise terms the
wide-ranging objectives of the CMPS and chronicles the various
activities of its members from its inauguration in 1795 to its
suppression in 1803. His meticulously researched account is rich in
intellectual exchange and philosophical controversy. It presents an
adroit analysis of proposals not only to implement (by scientific means)
an evaluation of society but also to find solutions to social problems
that could impede the march toward human perfectibility and the
establishment of a harmoniously functioning union. Through a critical
use of original and secondary sources, he sketches intellectual
portraits of the most important thinkers as they interacted within the
CMPS or struggled to maintain their independence. He discusses the basis
for their election to the Class, the objections of conservative
colleagues to the secularization initiatives of the Idéologues, the
prize contest questions, the endless debates, and other fascinating
details pertaining to the work of the CMPS as it attempted to carry out
its daunting mandate: to propose guidelines for the creation of new
citi-zens for the new state. The evidence suggests that many programs
set forth in the newly created forum foundered on the shoals of
persistent prerevolutionary traditions, personal interest, political
pressure, and patronage.

This work of patient reflection, which historians of social experiments
will study with great interest, is supported by six very useful
appendices, copious explanatory notes, and a detailed index.