THE GENIUS OF FRANÇOIS BERNIER (I)
"...une authorité comme absoluë" — François Bernier

AM | @HDI1780

I just re-read the last 30 pages of Vol. 1 of Paul Maret's magnificent edition of Voyages de François Bernier. Contenant la Description des Etats du Grand Mogol de l'Hindoustan, du Royaume de Cachemire, &c (Amsterdam, 1699) [see]. This fantastic book is the key source of many important ideas of Montesquieu, Raynal, Diderot, Adam Smith and Volney. The more I read Bernier, the more I am convinced of this fact. So let me first lay down some points of reference about Bernier and Histoire des deux Indes.

The key idea here is the notion of "le Mien & le Tien", Bernier's peculiar way of describing the fragility of property rights across the Eastern world: "Ces trois Etats Turquie, Perse, & l'Hindoustan, ...ont tous osté ce Mien & ce Tien à l'esgard des fonds de terre & de la proprieté des possessions" (p. 310 bis). Without citing the adventurous traveler, Raynal mentions this idea in Book X: "César trouva dans les Gaules le même usage qui porte le double caractère, d’un état primitif où tout étoit à tous, & d’une condition postérieure, où la notion du tien & du mien étoit connue & respectée" (HDI 1780, x.8).

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While looking for more textual references with the help of Google Books, I suddenly realized that Raynal and Diderot had merely transposed —sometimes word by word—, Bernier's ideas on the governance of the "Hindoustan" to the French colonies in the Caribbean and North America. Thus Bernier states that the Moghol's governors act "comme de petits Tyrans avec une authorité sans bornes"; this is exactly how Raynal describes the lieutenant du roi in French Antilles: "C’étoit un petit tyran, qui vexoit les cultivateurs, qui rançonnoit le commerce & qui aimoit mieux vendre un pardon, que prévenir des fautes" (HDI 1780, xiii.57).

And the phrase autorité sans bornes shows up on many occasions in HDI: xiv.2, xviii.19, xviii.35, xix.2. In the process of adapting Bernier's account to the New World, Raynal and Diderot came up with two very important ideas that figure prominently in Histoire des deux Indes: the impact of the governance structure on the supply of credit, and the fragility of forme judiciaire in the periphery of the empire. (And I have yet to re-read the parts on trade!). I will come back to these two points in the coming days. Stay tuned for more about the genius of François Bernier.
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