CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Sussex Research Online A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details The Chevalier Andrew Michael Ramsay’s Essay de Politique: Fénelon and Jacobitism Andrew Mansfield University of Sussex DPhil Thesis May 2011 2 WORK NOT SUBMITTED ELSEWHERE FOR EXAMINATION I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be, submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signature:……………………………………… 3 University of Sussex Submitted for a DPhil in Intellectual History and the History of Political Thought The Chevalier Andrew Michael Ramsay’s Essay de Politique: Fénelon and Jacobitism Summary Andrew Michael Ramsay‟s Essay de Politique (1719) and the revised second edition, the Essay philosophique sur le gouvernement civil (1721) claimed to promulgate the political principles of the Archbishop Fénelon author of Télémaque (1699). The assumed relationship between Fénelon and Ramsay augmented by Ramsay‟s Vie de Fénelon (1723) meant that subsequent biographers of both men have believed the Essay to be a faithful depiction of the prelate‟s political ideas. However this work, aided by the Vie de Fénelon was used by Ramsay to promote the Jacobite cause of James Stuart (the „Pretender‟). The Essay was used by Ramsay to set out a theoretical system of government that would prevent an „excess of liberty‟ in the people and thereby prevent the possibility of Revolution against a king. Ramsay‟s second edition augmented this idea with a more focused attack on the contract theorists and apologists for the 1689 Revolution. Ramsay deliberately manipulated the political legacy of Fénelon and focused on a corrupted view of Fénelon‟s early (children‟s) educational works in his promotion of Jacobitism. In doing so, he disregarded the important later reform plans for the French state under the potential reign of (an adult) Duke of Burgundy which were later influential in Regency France. Moreover, Ramsay manipulated the name and reputation of Fénelon to disguise the real influence of his Essay, Fénelon‟s nemesis Bossuet. The reliance of the Essay upon the seventeenth century absolutist theory of Bossuet at a time when eighteenth century Britain and Regency France had rejected absolutism in favour of reform led to its failure. The aim of the Thesis is therefore to examine the extent of Ramsay‟s Jacobitism, his impact on the political legacy of Fénelon in his attempt to create a work of Jacobite propaganda, and the true influences on the Essay de Politique. 4 Acknowledgments I would first and foremost like to thank my supervisor Richard Whatmore for his support and advice over what seems a very long time indeed. I owe you a great debt of gratitude for your patience with my harassment over the last few years and for the various opportunities you have provided for me. I would like to thank Cesare Cuttica for our invaluable discussions on absolutism, monarchy and government; for his advice on numerous fields of investigation and his insightful feedback after reading a draft of my thesis. This thanks I would like to extend to Mark Somos for his perceptive advice on the thesis and its format, and Mia Saugman for her offer of checking the French within the Thesis at such short notice. I should like to thank both Knud Haakonssen and Jim Livesey for some interesting conversations on Jacobitism, France and Scotland. Lastly, I would also like to recognize the Sussex Centre for Intellectual History and the inspiration drawn from its members, its conferences and the fascinating Works in Progress meetings. I would like to thank my family and friends, particularly my Mum for her support especially in earlier in the Thesis, as well as to Paddy for listening to me prattle on over the years about Ramsay. My daughters Charlotte and Lana also deserve a very special mention as a source of inspiration and a means of keeping my feet firmly on the ground. My greatest thanks go to my beautiful wife Sam for all her love, patience, support, proof- reading, and motivation in good times and more stressful times; and basically for putting up with the early mornings, late nights, weekends, and holidays. I could not have done this without you! 5 Contents Introduction 7 I: Andrew Michael Ramsay 17 Ramsay‟s Association with Fénelon 25 Ramsay and the Jacobites 31 II: Jacobitism in England and fear of the French, 1701-1722 38 1701 57 1711 65 1716 73 1722 81 French Notions of Political Reform, 1714-1721 88 III: The Political Fénelon 101 The Life of Fénelon 101 The Educational Works: (1689-1695) 108 Plans and Reforms: (1701-1712) 126 Ramsay‟s Editing of Fénelon‟s Political Works 144 IV: The Essay de Politique 151 Man, Civil Society and Sovereignty 152 An „Excess of Liberty‟ 164 „Monarchy moderated by Aristocracy‟ 172 6 V: Ramsay’s Jacobitism: The Essay philosophique sur le gouvernement civil and the Vie de Fénelon 177 „Lovers of Independency‟ 182 Promoting Jacobitism 192 The Influence of Bossuet on the Essay 200 Conclusion 218 Bibliography 222 7 Introduction Andrew Michael Ramsay‟s Essay de Politique (1719) is an unusual work that attempted to achieve a number of objectives which appeared to fail in all but one of them. These objectives were: to shape and promulgate a view of Fénelon‟s political works for an eager public desirous for more political commentary from the author of Télémaque; to provide a work that promoted the Jacobite cause in England; to create a „plan of government‟1 that assuaged the fears of „an excess of liberty,‟2 and to promote the career of Andrew Michael Ramsay. All but the last of these objectives were to fail. What Ramsay actually achieved with the production of the Essay and its second edition (1721), was a political legacy for Fénelon that was inaccurate and a „plan‟ of government that failed through its merger of two opposing systems of government: absolutism moderated by nobility. Consequently, the only objective that Ramsay achieved with the Essay was his own self-promotion as he rose among Jacobite circles to become a baronet and briefly acted as tutor to the young prince Charles in 1724. The Essay de Politique has subsequently become a neglected work, serving mainly as a footnote in Fénelon‟s Oeuvres, while Ramsay has become known either for his very successful Travels of Cyrus (1727) or through his association with the Freemasons. This disregard of the Essay de Politique and its second edition, the Essay philosophique sur le gouvernement civil neglects a crucial period in the literary career of Ramsay. The work was written at a time when Ramsay had become the editor of the Archbishop Fénelon‟s papers and manuscripts. It was a time when Ramsay‟s association with the Jacobite movement became far more involved, and it was at the beginning of his literary career. The Essay de Politique therefore reveals the early political thought and influence of a man who 1 Ramsay, Essay de Politique (H. Scheurleer, Le Haye, 1719), ii. 2 Ibid. 1-2. 8 was to become a literary success in Europe, man of letters, tutor to a (deposed) prince, and active Jacobite. Ramsay claimed that work was based upon the political principles of Fénelon, a thinker whose political ideas of reform and attacks on the absolutist regime of Louis XIV‟s France were much in demand in Regency France at this time. Ramsay‟s earlier association with Fénelon and his role as the editor of his papers therefore seemed to have allowed access to a much deeper understanding of the unpublished political thought of the prelate. Yet, the Essay sits rather at odds with the political principles expounded in works such as Télémaque which attacked absolutism while the Essay promoted absolutism in an attempt to restrain the „liberty‟ of the people and the possibility of rebellion. Ramsay‟s endeavours to utilize absolutist political theory for the Jacobite cause in an effort to reject the 1689 Revolution and legitimacy of popular revolt, employed arguments that did not belong to Fénelon. This thesis therefore has three linked aims which I will examine in relation to Ramsay‟s Essay de Politique. The first aim is to examine the extent of Ramsay‟s Jacobitism and to place him within the Jacobite movement and to discuss how this shaped the Essay, in particular the second edition. The second aim is to delineate the actual influence of Fénelon‟s political principles upon the Essay, and how his apparent subterfuge was used to promote the Jacobite cause for the benefit of the movement and of Ramsay. The final aim is to reveal the real influence upon the Essay, thereby arguing against the previous beliefs that the work was either indebted to Locke, Filmer, Bodin or Hobbes,3 or the (historically) predominant view that the work simply reflected the principles of Fénelon.4 In examining these three aims it 3 For discussions of the influence of the Essay see, Albert Cherel, Fénelon au xviiie Siècle en France (1715- 1820).