From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

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Early morning of November 21st

Inside the single-family residence of Speaker Rousseau in the east city of Ajaccio.

"My dear, please help me see if this dress doesn't fit well, and this wig. Oh my God, it feels a little faded. I spent twenty livres to order this in Paris. Woolen cloth!"

In front of the long mirror in the living room, a dressed-up Rousseau was nervously fiddling with his gown and wig. At the same time, he called Mrs. Vasseur, who had just woken up and was bleary-eyed, to help him see if the costume fit him.

The dark gray high-collared dress he was wearing was still designed in a Baroque style and was no longer a fashion favorite. The wig on his head also had some dye peeling off and deterioration, and there were small yellowish-brown spots in many places.

Obviously, Mr. Rousseau has not worn this serious formal suit for many years. His exile life that lasted for more than ten years gave him almost no opportunity and occasion to wear this suit with limited mobility.

Rousseau remembered that the last time he wore this dress was in London. At that time, he was dragged to a literary salon by his friend Hume. As a result, he made a fool of himself in that salon because he could not speak English.

If it weren't for the fact that the dress and wig cost more than a hundred livres, Rousseau would have thrown all the damn clothes into the furnace.

Mrs. Vasseur rubbed her sleepy eyes, looking at her husband's outfit, she couldn't help but smile and said:

"What's wrong honey, are you going to the dance?"

"Oh! What I have to do is much more important than the ball." Rousseau explained triumphantly while tugging on the cuffs so that they could completely cover the back of his hands:

"It's Governor Bonaparte. He wants to see me to discuss the constitution of the Kingdom of Corsica. In fact, I have only recently completed this constitution, starting from the time when Mr. Paoli wrote a letter inviting me to draft a constitution for Corsica. , it took me six years of hard work.”

"That's not easy."

Mrs. Vasseur, who was a maid, didn't know what kind of work her husband was busy with, but she still stepped forward to tidy up Rousseau's clothes and asked casually:

"But even if the Governor wants to see you, it doesn't matter if you wear casual clothes, right? I don't think Governor Bonaparte is the kind of person who would get angry because of what you are wearing."

"Of course, Your Excellency Bonaparte is very generous, I can see that." Rousseau nodded and said excitedly:

"But I still have one big thing to do in the afternoon - presiding over the Constituent Assembly to vote on the constitution I compiled. This is the first time I have presided over the assembly since I became the speaker. To be honest, I am a little nervous."

Even in his twilight years, this was the first time Rousseau had held public office, especially a position of such importance.

Over the decades, Rousseau worked as an apprentice, a servant, a personal secretary, a music scribe, and as for the speaker of a country's parliament? This was the first time, which made him, a well-known scholar, a little nervous.

Mrs. Vasseur's face was also filled with a happy smile. Since the couple came to Corsica, that period of poverty and pain in exile has become a memory of the past.

Thinking that her husband would stand in the parliament hall in the afternoon and be called Monsignor Rousseau, the smile on Mrs. Vasseur's face couldn't help but become brighter. She knelt down to straighten the wrinkles on Rousseau's clothes and said:

"Well, this dress still fits your figure quite well. At least it looks decent. As for the wig, I think you should not wear it. Corsican people don't have this style anyway."

"That's right. Oh, I have to go out quickly. People from the Governor's Mansion are here to pick me up."

Listening to the knock on the door downstairs, Rousseau quickly pulled the wig off his head and threw it on the sofa, then hurried downstairs holding his handbag.

At nine o'clock in the morning, in the office study of the Governor's Mansion.

"Welcome, Mr. Rousseau, I haven't seen you for a while."

Seeing Rousseau walking into the study with a somewhat reserved handbag in his arms, Lawrence quickly stood up, warmly asked the great philosopher to sit down, and greeted him cordially:

"How have you been lately?"

Rousseau was a little flattered by Lawrence's warm welcome. He sat stiffly on his chair and said repeatedly:

"Everything is fine, Your Majesty the Governor, everything is fine."

Seeing that Mr. Rousseau's face looked much better than that day in the Palace of Justice Prison, Lawrence felt relieved. He sat back and said straight to the point:

"Then let's get down to business. I wonder how the Constitution of the Kingdom of Corsica, which you were asked to compile, is going?"

"I have completed all my work, Your Excellency."

Rousseau quickly opened his handbag, took out a printed copy and handed it to Lawrence, explaining:

"Mr. Pauly asked me to start the constitution-making work a long time ago. Although Mr. Pauly asked me to write a constitution for a republic, and you asked me to write a constitution for a kingdom, the main parts are the same; I have been focusing on it lately. In order to add to this constitution a section on royal power and nobility.”

Listening to Rousseau's explanation, Lawrence opened the "Charter of the Kingdom of Corsica" compiled by Rousseau. On the first few pages of the printed copy is a brief summary to facilitate readers to quickly understand the system focused on establishing this charter.

Lawrence also focused on Rousseau's most recent work, the parts of the Charter dealing with kingship and nobility.

The rest of the constitution is not particularly different from Corsica's current constitution. After all, Pauly had asked Rousseau to start the constitution-making work six years ago, and Rousseau published a book the next year after receiving Pauly's invitation. "Opinions on the Constitution of Corsica"

Although Pauli, like Lawrence at the time, asked the famous scholar to compile a constitution for Corsica because of Rousseau's reputation, the constitution currently implemented in Corsica is basically based on Rousseau's previous opinions. Therefore, it is legally consistent with the "Charter of the Kingdom of Corsica" compiled by Rousseau himself.

Moreover, Lawrence himself did not have too many worries about the internal affairs of the constitution. As long as he still controlled the autocratic power of Corsica, it would be easy to amend the charter or add amendments to his own advantage.

Rousseau watched Lawrence nervously as he reviewed his work. Although he had written enlightenment works such as "The Social Contract" and popular popular books such as "Emile", the "Kingdom of Corsica" in front of him was "Charter" is undoubtedly the work that Rousseau devoted the most effort to.

As early as when he accepted Pauli's invitation and agreed to formulate a constitution for Corsica, Rousseau stated in his reply to the Corsican ambassador:

"For the rest of my life I had no other interests but myself and Corsica, and everything else had been banished from my mind."

It can be seen that this tome in Lawrence's hand has condensed much energy and effort of this enlightenment thinker.

After Lawrence briefly read the summary, he suddenly couldn't help but smile and said:

"Mr. Rousseau, your establishment of a government system is really interesting. A unitary constitutional monarchy, a bicameral parliament, a privy council and a cabinet, elected local authorities, the church is subject to the king, and the king is subject to parliament."

Looking at this series of elements, Lawrence couldn't help but smile and shake his head, knowing that Rousseau had copied almost half of the British monarchy.

Rousseau across the desk explained seriously:

"Yes, Your Excellency the Governor, I have made extensive reference to the British Constitution. I have to say that they have done an excellent job in limiting the king's power."

As early as when Rousseau came to Corsica for compilation work, Lawrence had secretly given him instructions and asked Rousseau to restrict and weaken the future influence of the king and nobles in Corsica in the charter.

After receiving this instruction, Rousseau almost immediately thought of the British monarchy. Among the major countries in Europe, the British constitutional system can be said to be the earliest and most mature.

Especially in today's era when the wave of absolutism reaches its peak, from France to Prussia, from Austria to Russia, the kings of every great country are gathering power in the center to exert their will on the entire empire without distraction.

Only the British maintained their limits on the power of the king, leaving the bulk of state power in the hands of the Prime Minister and the House of Representatives.

As a scholar who lived in exile in England for several years and received an annuity from King George III, Rousseau himself also had an in-depth understanding of the British political system. Therefore, when compiling the part about royal power in the Corsican Charter, he There are numerous references to the British constitutional system.

Moreover, Lawrence could see that Rousseau did not simply copy the British monarchy. This philosopher with ideas ahead of his time also foresaw the British political system's future further weakening of the power of the king and the nobility, and included it in Among the Corsican Charters.

For example, although Rousseau established a bicameral parliament in the charter and divided the parliament into a House of Nobles and a House of Commons, he specifically handed over all legislative and voting rights of the Parliament to the House of Commons, making the House of Lords a place with almost no real power. Noble nursing home.

At this time, the British House of Lords in 1770 was still a powerful political institution. It was not until the late period of the first industrial revolution that with the rapid expansion of the wealth and power of the bourgeoisie, the British House of Lords gradually lost its power and transferred its power to gradually transferred to the House of Commons.

In addition, although the clergy in Corsica has never been considered strong, Rousseau still planned to legislate against the clergy.

He ensured religious freedom in the form of law in the charter, preventing the church from expanding its power by attacking dissenters; at the same time, he also deprived the church of its right to religious protection and treated and taxed it just as ordinary private property.

Regarding the clergy themselves, Rousseau made many restrictions, prohibiting them from participating in politics, participating in elections, and judging civil affairs. In this new charter, the responsibilities and powers of the clergy are nothing more than serving as Bible interpreters.

These weakening of the clergy were also affirmed and supported by Lawrence.

Lawrence read the summary twice with great satisfaction. As the future prime minister of the Kingdom of Corsica and the actual ruler of the island, he certainly did not want King Louis to extend his hand to Corsica, nor would he The hope is that the Catholic Church will interfere with his control over the country, at least on a legal level.

In addition to the restrictions on royal power, Rousseau's hope for a free and equal society can be seen everywhere in this charter, whether it is "nobles committing crimes are as guilty as civilians" or "local government officials should be freely elected by local people instead of by Central Government Appointment" can all see the political philosophy expressed in his "Social Contract".

Although some of the freedom-seeking clauses in the charter were somewhat inconsistent with the autocratic rule Lawrence sought, Lawrence did not mind returning some minor powers to his own people.

"What do you think? Your Majesty the Governor?" Rousseau asked anxiously when Lawrence closed the printed book.

"This is a masterpiece, M. Rousseau, and it far exceeds my expectations."

Lawrence looked at Rousseau sincerely, feeling a little lucky that he had picked up such a valuable talent in the prison of the Palace of Justice; not only Rousseau's future lofty status as a mentor of Enlightenment, but also his talent and knowledge alone could give him Corsica brings a lot of benefits.

Rousseau also seemed extremely excited. With Bonaparte's permission, the implementation of this charter is undoubtedly certain.

When he thought that he could actually put his lifelong political philosophy into practice in the last few years of his life, Rousseau couldn't help clenching his fists, and a bright smile broke out on his wrinkled cheeks.

"You should have a copy here, right?" Lawrence glanced at Rousseau's handbag.

"Of course." Rousseau nodded and took out the copy of the charter that was stuffed in his handbag. Before printing it, he hired someone to translate the entire charter into Italian.

"Very well, Anna! Distribute these copies to the members of Parliament, who are already waiting in the auditorium; Mr. Rousseau, the voting in Parliament will only begin in the afternoon, and I still want to talk to you about some details of this charter. "

After a while, Rousseau continued to stay in the study room of the Governor's Palace to discuss some of the detailed clauses of the "Charter of the Kingdom of Corsica" with Lawrence. As for those MPs who came to the parliament auditorium early in the morning to wait, they also received the certificates distributed by Anna. Copy of Charter.

The auditorium on the west side of the Governor's Palace. Since Lawrence launched a coup in early April, this auditorium has not held a regular parliament. Ordinary affairs and bills are directly decided by the Governor's Palace.

There were only five MPs in the auditorium, including Carlo Bonaparte, and the remaining four vacancies were caused by Lawrence's previous threat to order the resignation of four MPs representing the landowner groups in order to weaken the power of the landowners.

Lawrence has always planned to insert his own people into the parliament. However, due to a series of events, he has not had time to personally preside over and supervise a parliamentary by-election in Corsica. Therefore, the current parliament has to be led by Carlo Bonaparte and the remaining four deputies of Ajaccio.

Among the five congressmen at this time, except for Carlo Bonaparte, who unconditionally supported his own brother, the other four looked at the copy of the charter distributed by Anna with ugly expressions.

These four congressmen are not dull and stupid people. When they received a notice from the Governor's Palace asking them to vote on the Corsican Constitution this afternoon, these people immediately understood Lawrence's intention.

Under normal circumstances, such a three-finger-thick tome would have to be sent to all members of Congress at least a few weeks in advance, so that they can understand the contents of the charter in advance before they can make a reasonable vote.

However, Lawrence deliberately distributed copies of the charter to them only a few hours before the vote, and the implicit meaning was already obvious.

Several people present knew very well that Governor Bonaparte clearly wanted to make the Corsican Parliament his own voice and turn all the members into useless wooden puppets controlled by him.

The Dongcheng District Member gritted his teeth and looked at the copy in front of him. Especially after seeing the various restrictions Rousseau had placed on the identity of the members in order to prevent parliamentary corruption, the member could no longer sit still. He whispered to the three people beside him. Colleague said:

"No, we can't sit still and wait for death!"