preservation of political liberty by the separation of political powers did not commend itself to his mind[1]. Dormant under the Consulate and the Empire, the influence of Montesquieu arose to renewed and more powerful life at the Restoration, and was, during the first half of the nineteenth century, the inspiration of all constitutional monarchists, both in France and in other European countries.
The influence of Montesquieu on methods of study was as important, though not as immediate[2], as his influence on the course of political thought. Of the historical and comparative method, in their application to Law and Politics, he was, as has been justly remarked[3], rather a precursor than a founder. His apreciation of the historical method was imperfect, and his application of it defective. It was not until the expiration of a century after his death that the importance and significance of either the historical or the comparative method was fully realized. But in the meantime his central doctrine, that the true spirit and meaning
- ↑ See the interesting letter of Sept. 19, 1797, written by Napoleon from Italy to Talleyrand, with a request that it might be shown to Sieyès. Napoleon, Correspondance, vol. iii. p. 313 (No. 2223).
- ↑ Un seul écrivain, Montesquieu, le mieux instruit, le plus sagace et le plus équilibré de tous les esprits du siècle, démêlait ces vérités, parce qu'il était à la fois érudit, observateur, historien et jurisconsulte. Mais il parlait comme un oracle, par sentences et en énigmes; il courait, comme sur des charbons ardents, toutes les fois qu'il touchait aux choses de son pays et de son temps. C'est pourquoi il demeurait respecté, mais isolé, et sa célébrité n'était point influence.'—Taine, Ancien Régime, p. 278. This statement of Taine must be read as applying to Montesquieu's influence on method, not to his influence on political thought.
- ↑ By Sir F. Pollock in his farewell lecture on the 'History of Comparative Jurisprudence' (Journal of the Society of Comparative Legislation, August, 1903).
