A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 09 — Voltaire — John Shaqi
A Philosophical Dictionary, Volume 09
Voltaire · en
_On Natural Liberty._
In several countries, and particularly in France, collections have been
made of the juridical murders which tyranny, fanaticism, or even error
and weakness, have committed with the sword of justice.
There are sentences of death which whole years of vengeance could
scarcely expiate, and which will make all future ages tremble. Such are
the sentences given against the natural king of Naples and Sicily, by
the tribunal of Charles of Anjou; against John Huss and Jerome of
Prague, by priests and monks; and against the king of England, Charles
I., by fanatical citizens.
After these enormous crimes, formally committed, come the legal murders
committed by indolence, stupidity, and superstition, and these are
innumerable. We shall relate some of them in other articles.
In this class we must principally place the trials for witchcraft, and
never forget that even in our days, in 1750, the sacerdotal justice of
the bishop of Würzburg has condemned as a witch a nun, a girl of
quality, to the punishment of fire. I here repeat this circumstance,
which I have elsewhere mentioned, that it should not be forgotten. We
forget too much and too soon.
Every day of the year I would have a public crier, instead of crying as
in Germany and Holland what time it is--which is known very well without
their crying--cry: It was on this day that, in the religious wars
Magdeburg and all its inhabitants were reduced to ashes. It was on May
14th that Henry IV. was assassinated, only because he was not submissive
to the pope; it was on such a day that such an abominable cruelty was
perpetrated in your town, under the name of justice.
These continual advertisements would be very useful; but the judgments
given in favor of innocence against persecutors should be cried with a
much louder voice. For example, I propose, that every year, the two
strongest throats which can be found in Paris and Toulouse shall cry
these words in all the streets: It was on such a day that fifty
magistrates of the council re-established the memory of John Calas, with
a unanimous voice, and obtained for his family the favors of the king
himself, in whose name John Calas had been condemned to the most
horrible execution.
It would not be amiss to have another crier at the door of all the
ministers, to say to all who came to demand _lettres de cachet_, in
order to possess themselves of the property of their relations, friends,
or dependents: Gentlemen, fear to seduce the minister by false
statements, and to abuse the name of the king. It is dangerous to take
it in vain. There was in the world one Gerbier, who defended the cause
of the widow and orphan oppressed under the weight of a sacred name. It
was he who, at the bar of the Parliament of Paris, obtained the
abolishment of the Society of Jesus. Listen attentively to the lesson
which he gave to the society of St. Bernard, conjointly with Master
Loiseau, another protector of widows.