EOUSSEAU
ROUVIER
a courageous opponent of reaction. The
most important of his many works is his
Allgemeine Geschichte (9 vols., 1812-27),
which ran to twenty-five editions ; and he
founded and partly compiled the Staats-
lexikon (12 vols, 1834-44). A monument
was erected in honour of him at Freiburg
in 1863. D. Nov. 26, 1840.
ROUSSEAU, Jean Jacques, Swiss reformer. B. June 28, 1712. Rousseau was born at Geneva of French Huguenot parents. His mother, a parson s daughter, died in childbirth, and he was early appren ticed to an engraver. At the age of sixteen he ran away, and went to Savoy, where he was more or less compelled to embrace Catholicism. He entered domestic service, but a wealthy lady, Mme. de Warens (a pious Catholic), adopted him as her lover, and for many years he devoted himself to the study of philosophy and literature at her house. In 1741 he went to Paris, and for some years he acted as private secretary. The arrogance of his master stung him into what would now be called Socialistic sentiments, but he was not yet articulate on social subjects. He was intimate with Diderot and D Holbach, and wrote a few articles on music for the Dictionnaire Encyclopedique. The five children who were born to him at Paris he took to the Foundling Hospital. In 1750 he won the prize offered by the Dijon Academy for an essay proving that the advance of culture has not improved morals (Discours sur les sciences et les arts). He failed to get a further prize, as his doctrine was too strong, and he published his essay, the famous Discours sur I inegalite parmi les hommes. He was now turning emphatically away from the great Ration alists of Paris. They recognized the division of classes, and they relied for progress upon a dissemination of culture among the educated. Rousseau differed on both points. He left Paris in 1754, and, living at the country house of his friend Mme. d Epinay and other houses, he in the next eight years produced his
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three greatest works (Julie, ou la nouvelle
Heloise, 1760 ; Du contrat social, 1762 ;
Emile, 1762). These works had a pro
found influence in France in creating a
demand for education, for a more natural
life, and, ultimately, for a social revolution.
The Paris Parlement condemned Emile,
and ordered the arrest of Rousseau. He
fled to Switzerland, but the Swiss con
demned both Emile and the Contrat Social,
and expelled him. He then spent three
years in Neuchatel, which belonged to the
King of Prussia ; but popular hostility on
account of his " irreligion " drove him out,
and he spent sometime in England, writing
the greater part of his Confessions, his last
great book, there. He left England in
1767, wandered, nervous and unhappy, in
the south of France for some time, and
was allowed to settle in Paris in 1770.
Rousseau, whom the clergy fiercely opposed,
professed a moral and sentimental attach
ment to Christianity, but was a Deist. He
explains in his Politique (1782 ed., p. 169)
that established Christianity "drowns the
real cult of divinity in a vain ceremonial."
He pleaded for " not the Christianity of
to-day, but that of the Gospels, which is
quite different " (p. 196). His character
was far inferior to that of the " irreligious "
Deists of Paris. He was, in fact, the
most religious and least virtuous of " the
philosophers " ; far inferior in nobility of
character to the Agnostics Diderot and
D Alembert, and more faulty than Voltaire.
We must, however, not forget his unhappy
circumstances and temperament. He ren
dered monumental service to his fellows.
D. July 2, 1778.
ROUYIER, Pierre Maurice, French statesman. B. Apr. 17, 1842. Rouvier studied law and practised at Marseilles, where he also took a prominent part in the anti-clerical opposition under the second Empire. He was elected to the National Assembly in 1871, and strongly supported Gambetta. In 1881-82 he was Minister of Commerce and the Colonies under Gam betta; in 1884-85 Minister of Commerce ; in G88
