On patriotism, by John Bolingbroke, 1730-1754

Résumé du document

This text is the analysis of an extract from the book On Patriotism, written between 1730 and 1754 by John Bolingbroke. Bolingbroke was a politician and thinker: he participated to the political life in Britain and was particularly MP in the Tories' party, Secretary of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this text, he presents his opinion about the excellence of the English institutions. The text is parted into 5 different points: "Impossibility of Universal Empire", "A dissertation on parties", "On the spirit of Patriotism", "The idea of a Patriot King", "A national religion". We can already see through those titles that the main objective of this text is to talk about patriotism and national identity.

Extraits

[...] On patriotism, by John Bolingbroke, 1730-1754 This text is an extract of On Patriotism, written between 1730 and 1754 by John Bolingbroke. Bolingbroke was a politician and thinker: he participated to the political life in Britain and was particularly MP in the Tories' party, Secretary of State and Minister of Foreign Affairs. In this text, he presents his opinion about the excellence of the English institutions. The text is parted into 5 different points: “Impossibility of Universal Empire”, dissertation on parties”, the spirit of Patriotism”, idea of a Patriot national religion”. [...]

[...] In face of those potential dangers, the notion of security is important: indeed, Bolingbroke insists on this when he employs the words and “private security”. The (almost) usual allusion to the weakness of France in comparison with England that can be found in the English texts of this epoch is not missing: “France lies under great disadvantages in trade and commerce by the nature of her government”; this is an opportunity for him to blame absolute power which France is systematically associated with. [...]

[...] Thus democracy and the political power (like the right to vote) of each individual is not the best model to Bolingbroke, but power has to be given to trade and commerce. Union is a way to build the national identity of Great Britain, according to Bolingbroke who was a fervent patriot, but however, at the time he wrote this text, the Act of Union between England and Scotland had been signed, and people from Scotland and England were not culturally and ethnically united: the union he is talking about is thus another way to improve trade and commerce. [...]

[...] Bolingbroke considers Great Britain as being the country of liberty. The word is repeated several times and he explains that liberty has to be defended. That is why he starts extolling the British constitution, tree that bears [the] fruit” of liberty, and the unique of liberty. This admiration for the constitution makes us think about the notion of “British constitutional patriotism” around which the British national identity was made. Among those liberties that the British constitution presents, we can think about the Magna Carta in 1215 that limits the powers of the King with several laws, and the Bill of Rights in 1689 that ended absolute monarchy. [...]

[...] In this passage, he is in favour of an honest and devoted behaviour; he even considers patriotism as the goal of the Patriot King's life. The notion of is fundamental in the conception of patriotism, but it is not an ascetic duty: Bolingbroke considers that material pleasures are “essential” to lead a country, which is a reminiscence maybe of the individualistic spirit of the new trading British society. To Bolingbroke, this Patriot King has already existed under the features of Elizabeth I. [...]