Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/553

General Conditions in the Eighteenth Century 413 720. Diderot's Encyclopedia. Voltaire had many admirers and powerful allies. Among these none were more important than Denis Diderot and the scholars whom Diderot induced to coop- erate with him in preparing articles for a new Encyclopedia, which was designed to spread among a wide range of intelligent readers a knowledge of scientific advance and rouse enthusiasm for reform and progress. Diderot and his fellow editors endeav- ored to rouse as little opposition as possible. They respected cur- rent prejudices and gave space to ideas and opinions with which they were not always personally in sympathy. The Encyclopedia attacked temperately, but effectively, reli- gious intolerance, the bad taxes, the slave trade, and the atrocities of the criminal law ; it encouraged men to turn their minds to natural science with all its possibilities. The article "Legislator," written by Diderot, might have been written today: "All the men of all lands have become necessary to one another for the exchange of the fruits of industry and the products of the soil. Commerce is a new bond among men. In these days every nation has an interest in the preservation by every other nation of its wealth, its industry, its banks,- its luxury, its agriculture. The ruin of Leipzig, of Lisbon, of Lima, has led to bankruptcies on all the exchanges of Europe and has affected the fortunes of many millions of persons." In spite of its wisdom and moderation, however, it aroused the opposition of the theologians, and after the first two volumes appeared, in 1752, the king's ministers, to please the officials of the Church, suppressed them, as containing principles hostile to royal authority and religion, although they did not succeed in preventing the completion of the work. 721. Jean Jacques Rousseau (i?i2-i778). Next to Voltaire, the writer who did most to cultivate discontent with existing condi- tions was Jean Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau believed in the natural equality of mankind and the right of every man to have a voice in the government. In his celebrated little treatise The Social Contract he declares that it is the will of the people that renders government legitimate. The real sovereign is the people.