Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 10.djvu/125

 THE FOUNDERS OF SOCIOLOGY 113

on that occasion he wrote: "We have had a delightful dream, but it was too brief. Now I mean to apply myself to geometry. It is terribly cold to be for the future laboring only for the ' gloriole ' after flattering oneself for a while that one was working for the public weal."

He had no other opportunity of participating in the work of government until the outbreak of the Revolution. But mean- time he pursued arduous studies in all departments of knowledge that could be brought to bear on human affairs, and his activity in the public interest manifested itself in pamphleteering and in journalism (he published and edited at least one newspaper). From 1777 he also acted as permanent secretary of the Academy, and during that time wrote a considerable number of Eloges which have achieved classic rank. Condorcet's own criticism of Franklin's works might well be applied to Condorcet's Eloges: "One might vainly look therein for a line that may raise the suspicion that it was written for his own glory."

He was, needless to say, a contributor to the later volumes of the Encyclopedic.

The outbreak of the Revolution gave Condorcet the oppor- tunity of satiating to the full his desire for political activity in the cause of social reform. Between 1789 and his proscription in 1793 he filled numerous places and offices. He was first of all member for the municipality of Paris; then representative of the Parisians in the legislative assembly; later, secretary of the legislative assembly, and then president of that body ; and finally served as a member of the Convention. For the Convention he drafted a constitution, but it was rejected. His criticism of the constitution actually adopted, his proposal to banish instead of executing the king, and his moderateness generally, brought him into suspicion among the extremists. He was at length pro- scribed and he fled. So far, however, from being embittered by this ill-usage on the part of those whom he had an ardent desire to serve, he is said to have fully conformed in his own conduct to the exalted ideal he set up for a public man in his Eloge de Vhdpilal, written sixteen years before. This public rebuff was, in fact, to him only an occasion for social service in other forms.