scholarly journals The Motif of the ‘Bloodbath of Toruń’ in Voltairean Writings Concerning the Dissident Question of 1767/68 and the First Partition of Poland

2022 ◽  
Vol 128 (5) ◽  
pp. 45-77
Author(s):  
Jacek Kordel
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Saint Petersburg ◽  
Death Sentences

The ‘Tumult of Toruń’ of 1724, which resulted in the sentencing to death of the mayor and a dozen or so townsmen (the so-called ‘bloodbath’ or ‘bloody court’), brought about a veritable deluge of publications. It has become widely accepted in literature that these writings fundamentally impacted the development in Western public opinion of the notion that eighteenth-century Poland was an intolerant country. In 1767–71, Voltaire placed his pen at the service of the Russian empress, and his propaganda texts provided support for the diplomatic and military offensive of the court of Saint Petersburg in Poland. One of the more significant themes that appeared in the papers commissioned by the Russians and also in the philosopher’s correspondence was that of the ‘Tumult of Toruń’ of July 1724 and the death sentences that were passed against the city’s mayor and a dozen or so townspeople.

Two Models of Public Opinion: Bacon's ‘New Logic’ and Diotima's ‘Tale of Love’ (The Prothero Lecture)

1974 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 79-96
Author(s):  
Samuel H. Beer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Theoretical Approach ◽  
Democratic Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Representative Government ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Work Done

It is appropriate that an American should address himself to the subject of public opinion. For, in terms of quantity, Americans have made the subject peculiarly their own. They have also invested it with characteristically American concerns. Most of the work done on the subject in the United States is oriented by a certain theoretical approach. This approach is democratic and rationalist. Both aspects create problems. In this paper I wish to play down the democratic problem, viz., how many of the voters are capable of thinking sensibly about public policy, and emphasize rather the difficulties that arise from modern rationalism. Here I take a different tack from most historians of the concept of public opinion, who, taking note of the origin of the term in the mid-eighteenth century, stress its connection with the rise of representative government and democratic theory.

Monarchy

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joël Félix
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Reform Initiatives ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
The Social ◽  
Major Reform ◽  
Louis Xvi ◽  
Louis Xv

This chapter examines the social and political structures of the absolute monarchy. It explores the extent to which tensions and conflicts in the mid-eighteenth century, in particular disputes between government and parlements, divided the elites over reform and policy, and opened up the realm of politics to public opinion. Reviewing the fate of major reform initiatives through the reigns of both Louis XV and his grandson Louis XVI, it argues that political crises paralysed the ability of royal institutions to enforce authority and generate consensus, thus making the transition from the old regime to the modern world necessary and inevitable.

From Servant of the King to ‘Idol of the Nation’

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Swann
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Public Welfare ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Louis Xiv ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Louis Xvi ◽  
The Revolution

The absolute monarchy was a personal monarchy and during the reign of Louis XIV, the king established a tradition that the king should act as his ‘own first minister’, coordinating the work of his ministerial servants. In the course of the eighteenth century that tradition was undermined by a series of social, administrative, and cultural changes to such an extent that by the 1780s ministers were increasingly behaving as independent political figures, courting public opinion and claiming to act in the name of public welfare or even the nation. By examining these changes, this chapter argues that the political culture of the absolute monarchy was in constant transition and that the failure of Louis XVI, in particular, to manage its effects was one of the principal causes of his loss of authority in the period preceding the Revolution of 1789.

Lecky’s Leaders of public opinion in Ireland

1964 ◽  
Vol 14 (54) ◽  
pp. 119-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donal McCartney
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
History Of

The great Anglo-Irish historian, W.E.H. Lecky, was born in Dublin in 1838. He is best remembered for his volumes on Ireland and England in the eighteenth century (begun in the 1870s and completed in the 1890s). His European reputation had already been made with his History of the rise and inpuence of the spirit of rationalism in Europe (1865), and his History of European morals from Augustus to Charlemagne (1869).

The Personnel of the Dublin Society of United Irishmen, 1791-4

1940 ◽  
Vol 2 (5) ◽  
pp. 12-53
Author(s):  
R. B. McDowell
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Political Freedom ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Independent Voters ◽  
United Irishmen

One of the most noticeable features of Irish political life in the 'later eighteenth century, is, that though political power was :oncentrated in comparatively few hands, there was a very large leasure of political freedom. One could in fact sum up the system by saying that it was oligarchy tempered by discussion. As a result, voluntary and unofficial societies and clubs arose for the purpose of educating and influencing public opinion, and were the nuclei of much political thought and action. There [were Whig Clubs, Constitutional Clubs, Societies for the [Preservation of Liberty and Peace and Associations of Independent Voters. Thus there was nothing very strange in the Iformation, in November 1791, of a Dublin branch of the newly bounded Society of United Irishmen. But this group was to prove unique in at least one respect.

Subversive Words: Public Opinion in Eighteenth-Century France.

1996 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 852
Author(s):  
Daniel Gordon ◽  
Arlette Farge ◽  
Rosemary Morris
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Public Opinion
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