Arbitrarily excepted from the amnesty in 1859, Proudhon was pardoned two years later by a special act.He did not wish to take advantage of this favor, and seemed resolved to remain in Belgium until the 2d of June, 1863, the time when he was to acquire the privilege of prescription, when an absurd and ridiculous riot, excited in Brussels by an article published by him on federation and unity in Italy, induced him to hasten his return to France.Stones were thrown against the house in which he lived, in the Faubourg d'Ixelles.After having placed his wife and daughters in safety among his friends at Brussels, he arrived in Paris in September, 1862, and published there, "Federation and Italian Unity," a pamphlet which naturally commences with the article which served as a pretext for the rioters in Brussels.
Among the works begun by Proudhon while in Belgium, which death did not allow him to finish, we ought to mention a "History of Poland," which will be published later; and, "The Theory of Property," which appeared in 1865, before "The Gospels Annotated," and after the volume entitled "The Principle of Art and its Social Destiny."The publications of Proudhon, in 1863, were: 1."Literary Majorats: An Examination of a Bill having for its object the Creation of a Perpetual Monopoly for the Benefit of Authors, Inventors, and Artists;" 2."The Federative Principle and the Necessity of Re-establishing the Revolutionary party;" 3."The Sworn Democrats and the Refractories;" 4."Whether the Treaties of 1815 have ceased to exist? Acts of the Future Congress."The disease which was destined to kill him grew worse and worse;but Proudhon labored constantly!...A series of articles, published in 1864 in "Le Messager de Paris," have been collected in a pamphlet under the title of "New Observations on Italian Unity." He hoped to publish during the same year his work on "The Political Capacity of the Working Classes," but was unable to write the last chapter....He grew weaker continually.His doctor prescribed rest.In the month of August he went to Franche-Comte, where he spent a month.Having returned to Paris, he resumed his labor with difficulty....
From the month of December onwards, the heart disease made rapid progress; the oppression became insupportable, his legs were swollen, and he could not sleep....
On the 19th of January, 1865, he died, towards two o'clock in the morning, in the arms of his wife, his sister-in-law, and the friend who writes these lines....
The publication of his correspondence, to which his daughter Catherine is faithfully devoted, will tend, no doubt, to increase his reputation as a thinker, as a writer, and as an honest man.
J.A.LANGLOIS.
PREFACE.
The following letter served as a preface to the first edition of this memoir:--"To the Members of the Academy of Besancon "PARIS, June 30, 1840.
"GENTLEMEN,--In the course of your debate of the 9th of May, 1833, in regard to the triennial pension established by Madame Suard, you expressed the following wish:--"`The Academy requests the titulary to present it annually, during the first fortnight in July, with a succinct and logical statement of the various studies which he has pursued during the year which has just expired.'
"I now propose, gentlemen, to discharge this duty.
"When I solicited your votes, I boldly avowed my intention to bend my efforts to the discovery of some means of AMELIORATINGTHE PHYSICAL, MORAL, AND INTELLECTUAL CONDITION OF THE MERENUMEROUS AND POORER CLASSES.This idea, foreign as it may have seemed to the object of my candidacy, you received favorably;and, by the precious distinction with which it has been your pleasure to honor me, you changed this formal offer into an inviolable and sacred obligation.Thenceforth I understood with how worthy and honorable a society I had to deal: my regard for its enlightenment, my recognition of its benefits, my enthusiasm for its glory, were unbounded.
"Convinced at once that, in order to break loose from the beaten paths of opinions and systems, it was necessary to proceed in my study of man and society by scientific methods, and in a rigorous manner, I devoted one year to philology and grammar; linguistics, or the natural history of speech, being, of all the sciences, that which was best suited to the character of my mind, seemed to bear the closest relation to the researches which I was about to commence.A treatise, written at this period upon one of the most interesting questions of comparative grammar, if it did not reveal the astonishing success, at least bore witness to the thoroughness, of my labors.
"An Inquiry into Grammatical Classifications." By P.J.
Proudhon.A treatise which received honorable mention from the Academy of Inscriptions, May 4, 1839.Out of print.
"Since that time, metaphysics and moral science have been my only studies; my perception of the fact that these sciences, though badly defined as to their object and not confined to their sphere, are, like the natural sciences, susceptible of demonstration and certainty, has already rewarded my efforts.
"But, gentlemen, of all the masters whom I have followed, to none do I owe so much as to you.Your co-operation, your programmes, your instructions, in agreement with my secret wishes and most cherished hopes, have at no time failed to enlighten me and to point out my road; this memoir on property is the child of your thought.
"In 1838, the Academy of Besancon proposed the following question: TO WHAT CAUSES MUST WE ATTRIBUTE THE CONTINUALLYINCREASING NUMBER OF SUICIDES, AND WHAT ARE THE PROPER MEANS FORARRESTING THE EFFECTS OF THIS MORAL CONTAGION?
