262 THE FRENCH ILLUMINATION. obeys. The act by which the people submits itself to its head is not a contract, but merely a mandate ; whenever it chooses it can limit, alter, or entirely recall the delegated power. In order to security against illegal encroachments on the part of the government, Rousseau recommends regular assemblies of the people, in which, under suspension of gov- ernmental authority, the confirmation, abrogation, or altera- tion of the constitution shall be determined upon. Even the establishment of the articles of social belief falls to the sovereign people. The essential difference between Rous- seau's theory of the state and that of Locke and Montes- quieu consists in his rejection of the division of powers and of representation by delegates, hence in its unlimited democratic character. A generation after it was given to the world, the French Revolution made the attempt to translate it into practice. "The masses carried out what Rousseau himself had thought, it is true, but never willed " (Windelband). Rousseau's theory of education is closely allied to Locke's (cf. p. 1 80), whose leading idea — the development of individu- ality — was entirely in harmony with the subjectivism of the philosopher of feeling. Posterity has not found it a difficult task to free the sound kernel therein from the husks of exag- geration and idiosyncrasy which surrounded it. Among the latter belong the preference of bodily over intellectual development, and the unlimited faith in the goodness of human nature. Exercise the body, the organs, the senses of the pupil, and keep his soul unemployed as long as pos- sible ; for the first, take care only that his mind be kept free from error and his heart from vice. In order to secure complete freedom from disturbance in this development, it is advisable to isolate the child from society, nay, even from the family, and to bring him up in retirement under the guidance of a private tutor. As the Swiss republican spoke in Rousseau's politics, so his religious theories * betray the Genevan Calvinist. "The Savoyard Vicar's Profession of Faith" (in Entile) proclaims deism as a religion of feeling. The rational proofs brought forward for the existence of God — from the motion of matter
- Cf. Ch. Borgeaud, ^^Mjj^awj Religionsphilosophie, Geneva and Leipsic. 1883.
