calumniators.

As to the intimate purpose, the soul of this work, these are the
principles on which it is based.

Man is neither good nor bad; he is born with instincts and capabilities;
society, far from depraving him, as Rousseau asserts, improves him,
makes him better; but self-interest also develops his evil tendencies.
Christianity, above all, Catholicism, being--as I have pointed out in
the Country Doctor (_le Medecin de Campagne_)--a complete system for
the repression of the depraved tendencies of man, is the most powerful
element of social order.

In reading attentively the presentment of society cast, as it were, from
the life, with all that is good and all that is bad in it, we learn this
lesson--if thought, or if passion, which combines thought and feeling,
is the vital social element, it is also its destructive element. In this
respect social life is like the life of man. Nations live long only
by moderating their vital energy. Teaching, or rather education, by
religious bodies is the grand principle of life for nations, the only
means of diminishing the sum of evil and increasing the sum of good in
all society. Thought, the living principle of good and ill, can only be
trained, quelled, and guided by religion. The only possible religion is
Christianity (see the letter from Paris in "Louis Lambert," in which the
young mystic explains, _a propos_ to Swedenborg's doctrines, how there
has never been but one religion since the world began). Christianity
created modern nationalities, and it will preserve them. Hence, no
doubt, the necessity for the monarchical principle. Catholicism and
Royalty are twin principles.

As to the limits within which these two principles should be confined
by various institutions, so that they may not become absolute, every one
will feel that a brief preface ought not to be a political treatise. I
cannot, therefore, enter on religious discussions, nor on the political
discussions of the day. I write under the light of two eternal
truths--Religion and Monarchy; two necessities, as they are shown to be
by contemporary events, towards which every writer of sound sense ought
to try to guide the country back. Without being an enemy to election,
which is an excellent principle as a basis of legislation, I reject
election regarded as _the only social instrument_, especially so badly
organized as it now is (1842); for it fails to represent imposing
minorities, whose ideas and interests w