The Man and the Statesman: The Correspondence and Articles on Politics

by Frederic Bastiat, Jacques de Guenin

Overview

The Man and the Statesman, the first volume in Liberty Fund’s six-volume series, may be considered the most complete edition of Bastiat’s works published to date, in any country, and in any language. The main source for this translation is the seven-volume Œuvres complètes de Frédéric Bastiat, published in the 1850s and 1860s.

The present volume, most of which has never before been translated into English, includes Bastiat’s complete correspondence: 207 letters Bastiat wrote between 1819, when he was only 18 years old, until just a few days before his untimely death in 1850 at the age of 49. For contemporary classical liberals, Bastiat’s correspondence will provide a unique window into a long-forgotten world where opposition to war and colonialism went hand-in-hand with support for free trade and deregulation.

Frédéric Bastiat (1801–1850) was one of the leading advocates of free markets and free trade in the mid-nineteenth century.

Jacques de Guenin is founder of the Cercle Frédéric Bastiat. He is a graduate of the École des Mines in Paris and holds a Master of Sciences from the Universityof California, Berkeley.

Dennis O’Keeffe is Professor of Social Science at the Universityof Buckingham, Buckingham, England, and is Senior Research Fellow in Education at the Institute of Economic Affairs, London.

David M. Hart has a Ph.D. in history from King’s College, Cambridge, and is the Director of Liberty Fund’s Online Library of Liberty.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780865977877
Publisher:	Liberty Fund, Incorporated
Publication date:	03/14/2011
Series:	The Collected Works of Fr d ric Bastiat , #1
Pages:	600
Sales rank:	804,123
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.50(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Table of Contents

General Editor’s Note, xi

Note on the Translation, xv

Note on the Editions of the OEuvres Complètes, xix

Acknowledgments, xxi

General Introduction, by Jacques de Guenin and

Jean-Claude Paul-Dejean, xxiii

Frédéric Bastiat Chronology, xxxvi

Map of France Showing Cities Mentioned by Bastiat, xxxviii

Map of Southwestern France, xxxix

Part 1: Correspondence

Introduction to the Correspondence, by David M. Hart, 3
Correspondence, 11

Part 2: Articles and Addresses

Section 1: Articles of Biographical Interest

1. Two Articles on the Basque Language, 305

2. Reflection on the Question of Dueling, 309

3. On the Bordeaux to Bayonne Railway Line, 312

4. Draft Preface for the Harmonies, 316

5. Anglomania, Anglophobia, 320

6. Proposition for the Creation of a School for Sons of

    Sharecroppers, 334

Section 2: Political Manifestos

1. To the Electors of the Département of the Landes, 341

2. To the Electors of the District of Saint-Sever, 352

3. On Parliamentary Reform, 367

4. To the Electors of the Landes, 387

5. Letter to a Group of Supporters, 387

6. Political Manifestos of April 1849, 390

7. Letter on the Referendum for the Election of the

    President of the Republic, 395

Section 3: Electoral Principles

1. Electoral Sophisms, 397

2. The Elections, 404

3. Fragment, 410

4. Letter to a Candidate, 410

5. Letter to Roger Dampierre, 412

Section 4: Articles on Politics

1. On a New Secondary School to Be Founded in Bayonne, 415

2. Freedom of Teaching, 419

3. Freedom of Trade, 421

4. The Parisian Press, 425

5. Petition from an Economist, 426

6. Article in La République française, 429

7. The Scramble for Office, 431

8. Impediments and Taxes, 432

9. Freedom, 433

10. Laissez-faire, 434

11. Under the Republic, 435

12. On Disarmament, 437

13. The Kings Must Disarm, 439

14. Articles in La République française on the Political

      Situation, 440

15. To Citizens Lamartine and Ledru-Rollin, 444

16. Report Presented to the 1849 Session of the General

      Council of the Landes, on the Question of

      Common Land, 446

17. National Assembly, 451

18. Parliamentary Conflicts of Interest, 452

19. Parliamentary Reform, 457

20. Letter to an Ecclesiastic, 463

21. On Religion, 466

22. On the Separation of the Temporal and Spiritual

      Domains, 468

23. The Three Pieces of Advice, 471

Glossaries

Glossary of Persons, 477

Glossary of Places, 509

Glossary of Subjects and Terms, 511

Appendix: List of the Correspondence by Recipient, 521
Bibliography of Primary Sources, 525
Index, 535

Editorial Reviews

The economist FrNormal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONEMicrosoftInternetExplorer4édNormal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONEMicrosoftInternetExplorer4éric Bastiat, who lived in the first half of the 19th century, wrote in French, not in symbols. But his wordsNormal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONEMicrosoftInternetExplorer4–forceful, clear and wittyNormal0falsefalsefalseEN-USX-NONEX-NONEMicrosoftInternetExplorer4–live to this day. . . .Familiar though Bastiat's economic writings may be, his letters, until now, have been available only in their original language. The Man and the Statesman, the first in a projected English-language edition of Bastiat's collected works, encompasses 209 letters as well as a sampler of his political essays and notes and a helpful glossary from the editors (Jacques de Guenin, Jean-Claude Paul-Dejean and David M. Hart). But the letters are the thing. Through them shines the most charming economist you have ever met.

The Wall Street Journal
July 23, 2011

From the Publisher