RUSSIA. DEMOUSTIER. Autograph manuscript signed, Philosophie - Lot 433

RUSSIA. DEMOUSTIER. Autograph manuscript signed, Philosophie pratique ou Considérations sociales, St. Petersburg, 1821-[1854]; 2 vol. in-8 of 423 and 445 pages, bound in half calf with corners (contemporary binding, a bit worn). Unpublished manuscript of a tutor of the Russian imperial family. Curious manuscript, apparently unpublished, written by a Frenchman established in St. Petersburg during the first half of the nineteenth century, with erasures, corrections, additions on blocks, and passages crossed out It deals with "practical philosophy", i.e. the branch of philosophy which has for object the actions and activities of men. The text, in a small, very regular and readable handwriting, contains more than 1300 numbered paragraphs where the author studies everything related to everyday life or to life in society. In the first volume, the paragraphs are numbered from 1 to 775; in the second, they are numbered from 1 to 545 (this numbering was later corrected in ink or pencil by the author). The topics covered are extremely varied; one thus notes, for volume I : Air, Tone, and Manner; The Right Choice; Abundance of Books; Reading Novels; Poverty, Indigence, Misery; Beneficence; Reflection; Insults; Duels; Avarice; Writing; Slaves; Presence of Mind; Reason; Manners; Equality of mood; Virtue; Passions; European fashions; Governments; Diversion; Longevity; Fortune; Freedom; Luxury; Taxes; Reading; History; Freedom from social laws; Domestics; Progress of the Enlightenment; etc. And in volume II: Old age and youth; Reason; Sects; Social classes; Instruction; Why evil on Earth?; Duties; Politeness; Crooked, sharp, twisted, biscornus minds; Teachers (with mention of Cabanis' Memoirs); Spirit of conduct; Youth; Civility; Rules of conduct; Music; Harmony; Songs; Imaginative faculties; Anarchists; Capitalists; etc. Let's quote this brief excerpt: "Humanity cries out: no slaves! and reason cries out: prudence! prudence! - Never has freedom been given suddenly to a large number of slaves without great misfortune resulting. The man brought up in slavery has received only a relative education and in no way conforms to the enjoyment of his rights; he does not know them, he is ignorant of laws, usages, customs, he has no idea of civil mores. The first feeling that he experiences on seeing himself free is hatred against his former masters [...]. A legislator who would like to make a free people out of a people of slaves, would do it successfully if he first gave to the newborn generation a social education and instruction, emancipating progressively after an examination the young men recognized as worthy of being free"... (t. I, p. 49). The title pages of both volumes are dated 1821, but the foreword, located at the head of volume I, is dated June 1854. It is signed " Demoustier, professor of French literature, teacher of the four princes and the two grand'ducal princesses since the year eighteen hundred and thirty-two ". A handwritten note in pencil (partly erased) opposite the title of vol. I specifies: "This volume was finished in the first days of January 1821 in St Petersburg. I mean the copy, because the material has been written successively for more than forty-five years"... No biographical information on the author can be found in the usual reference works. He was perhaps related to the poet Charles Albert Demoustier (1760-1801), author of the Lettres à Émilie sur la mythologie, or to his uncle Pierre Antoine Demoustier (1735-1803), engineer of the Ponts-et-Chaussées, builder of the Concorde bridge. The princes mentioned in the foreword seem to be the children of Tsar Nicholas I and the Tsarina, born Charlotte of Prussia, i.e. the Grand Dukes Alexander, Constantine, Nicholas and Michael, and the Grand Duchesses Marie and Olga.