The Pen and the Scythe: The Peasant Question in the 18th-Century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Writings of Contemporary French Littérateurs

Abstract

In the 18th century, people in Western Europe knew very little about the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which was perceived as an odd and anarchic regime, where not only did serfdom make agriculture inefficient, it was also a pretext for neighbouring powers to interfere in its domestic affairs. Nevertheless, Enlightenment ideas, spreading little by little, raised the question of the status of the peasants in the Commonwealth. Displaying observations made by French travellers or residents (Chappe d’Auteroche, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Linguet, Jaucourt, Dubois de Jancigny, Caraccioli, Vautrin, Gilibert) on the Commonwealth’s peasantry, and reflections by thinkers (Mably, Rousseau, Baudeau, Le Mercier de la Rivière), the article intends to show how these authors contributed to raising the issue of serfdom in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the public sphere, and evaluates their influence on readers both in the Commonwealth and abroad. Although the social and political conditions were not yet there for the complete liberation of the serfs, the littérateurs’ reflections were food for thought for the Polish-Lithuanian elite. Had the Commonwealth not been partitioned, progressive ideas would have taken root, little by little, and the peasants would have gained personal and civic rights, becoming full citizens of their country. Our survey aims to set forth little-known authors, expanding the knowledge of French literature devoted to the 18th-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and broadening the historiography on the peasant question in the Commonwealth. The article encompasses: I. French travellers and residents’ accounts of the peasantry of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; II. French educators’ intervention in the debate on serfdom in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; III. The reflections of Philosophes and Physiocrats on serfdom in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; IV. The reception of French littérateurs’ writings on serfdom in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.