1st Speech for the Defence on behalf of le Sieur de Vissery de Bois-Valé, appellant against the judgement of the magistrates of Saint Omer who have ordered the destruction of a Par-à-Tonnerre, erected on the roof of his house.
(1783)
(Translation by Nicola Armitt)
L’usage appuyé sur le tems
Et les préjugés indociles
Ne se retirent qu’à pas lents
Devant les vérités utiles.
Lemierre
The Arts and Sciences are the greatest gift that God has given to mankind but what turn of fate has left them facing so many obstacles in order to establish themselves upon the earth? What debt do we owe to those great men who have invented or perfected them? What just tribute of recognition and admiration does humanity owe them, without being forced to also bemoan the terrible persecution they once faced? Such persecutions that made their sublime discoveries fatal to them, no matter how useful to the happiness of society they proved. Unhappiness came to whom-so-ever dared to enlighten his fellow men! Ignorance, prejudice and base emotions formed a fearsome league against men of genius to punish them for services rendered.
Galileo dared to say that the earth moved around the sun; envy and fanaticism joined forces to cry blasphemy, impiety and heresy until the philosopher is denounced to the Inquisition and a solemn judgement then declares him to be guilty. So it is that those who do not believe in Ptolemy’s system do not believe in God. Descartes then brought Reason back to Europe after it’s long exile but he is accused of atheism and this great man is forced to flee his country and was unable to die in a land that would later be proud to be the place of his birth.
With what tireless zeal governments and societies now
dedicate themselves to the study of medicine. Yet, where they not once opposed
to this interesting science? Imagine that some daring hand then wanted to extract
the discipline from the chaos into which it had fallen. Would not ignorance
and envy then have been seen, trembling in the torchlight that has been brought
into the darkness that protects them, as they try, by guilty means, to continue
the miseries of humanity by rejecting the remedies destined to bring them relief?
The great Harvey discovered the circulation of blood and the alarm bells were
sounded in all the establishments in all the corners of the world. In Paris
the new system was denounced by the First Tribunal of the kingdom and judgement
was given, stating that blood was immobile. Nature was forced to conform to
the antiquated beliefs of the establishment. Let me speak now of the judgements
that outlawed cinchona and antimony; beneficial remedies that have since saved
lives. What of the doctors who have been slandered of the administrators condemned?
I would remind you of those who have analysed minerals, whose work Medical Studies
were quick to take hold of, since the natural properties of these minerals could
help bring relief to human ailments. I wish to end by speaking of those illustrious
men to whom we owe some of the most important discoveries of this kind. Yet
were not nearly all these men were forced to abjure from using their medicaments
to cure their fellow men or else flee into exile to escape the persecution that
hounded them in their own lands?
Without continuing further the recitation of these strange events, let us rather
give thanks for the progress brought about by these men of the Enlightenment,
who put an end to the past, shameful delirium. We blush nowadays at the excessive
ridicule they once faced and would hardly believe it, were it not written down
in the pages of History. Now men if genius may pursue their work freely and
science marches swiftly on towards perfection. It is within this age of reason,
that distinguishes our century, the boldest and most remarkable ideas the human
spirit has ever known have appeared; ideas greeted with universal eagerness
and acclaim.
A Man has appeared within our lifetime; a man who dared to begin a project that would arm mankind against the fire of the Heavens. ‘He said to the lightening: you may come as far as this and then you are banished from the peaceful homes of the people and from the superb edifices that seem the principal objects of your wrath. You will follow this route into the earth, freshly dug to receive you. You will go, causing neither noise nor harm, with all your catastrophic activity exhausted.’ The obedient lightning has bowed to these laws, losing at once that reckless and irresistible impetuosity that strikes, breaks, overturns and flattens all in its path. It has learnt to discern which objects it should spare and moves out of their way, fearing to infringe upon our lives or touch our houses. What could have offered a greater pretext in the last century for cries of witchcraft? How envy and prejudice would soon have sought its destruction in order to rob mankind of its benefits. In our age though no voice would be heard, rising up against the experience and theory that attest to the wonders of such a discovery. The whole of the learned world rushed to adopt it with joy and all enlightened nations were impressed by the advantages it offered. No complaint troubled the universal praise that flew throughout the world as voices sang out to the very heavens, glorifying the inventor. But wait…I am mistaken, Gentlemen…there is one complaint. In this great age, amongst enlightened men and amidst the homage heaped on the Philosopher who invented this sublime device, it has been decided that it is injurious to mankind. It is within a town where the citizens have denounced the Par-à-Tonnerre to their officials as a threat to public safety. These frightened officials hastened then to ban them and the police took measures to destroy them all. The people then rejoiced at all that was being done to banish the devices from the boundaries of their town. I ask you, Gentlemen, which country could have been the setting for this unbelievable event? You would think perhaps of some far off land where the light of the Arts has never been seen and where the word ‘science’ is unknown. No, Gentlemen, it is in the very centre of Europe that these events took place, in the very heart of the most enlightened nation in this part of the world, in a province very close to the capital city of this same nation, even (since the terrible truth must be told) in this very province in which we live! It is time to reveal to you the particulars of this strange case.