The Advent of Modern Liberty (1795)

This chapter looks at how Staël claimed that, in order to unify the nation under a republican government, it was necessary to identify the durable interests and aspirations of the majority of the French people. Now, the question of what the majority wanted was defined with greater clarity than in the past. The unity of the nation under the republic must be founded upon the general demand for liberty. Not, however, the patriotic, participative liberty—inspired by the model of ancient republics—that had been revived by the Jacobins with such destructive consequences, but a new kind of liberty, based on the modern needs for security, prosperity, and peace.