It cannot be disputed that these classical theories [advanced by these latter-day teachers, writers, legislators, economists, and philosophers] held that everything came to the people from a source outside themselves. As another example, take Fenelon [archbishop, author, and instructor to the Duke of Burgundy].
He was a witness to the power of Louis XIV. This, plus the fact that he was nurtured in the classical studies and the admiration of antiquity, naturally caused Fenelon to accept the idea that mankind should be passive; that the misfortunes and the prosperity -- vices and virtues -- of people are caused by the external influence exercised upon them by the law and the legislators. Thus, in his Utopia of Salentum, he puts men -- with all their interests, faculties, desires, and possessions -- under the absolute discretion of the legislator. Whatever the issue may be, persons do not decide it for themselves; the prince decides for them. The prince is depicted as the soul of this shapeless mass of people who form the nation. In the prince resides the thought, the foresight, all progress, and the principle of all organization. Thus all responsibility rests with him.
The whole of the tenth book of Fenelon's Telemachus proves this. I refer the reader to it, and content myself with quoting at random from this celebrated work to which, in every other respect, I am the first to pay homage.
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A Just and Enduring Government
The Complete Perversion of the Law
The Reason Why Voting Is Restricted
The Answer Is to Restrict the Law
The Fatal Idea of Legal Plunder
Slavery and Tariffs Are Plunder
The Proper Function of the Law
The Seductive Lure of Socialism
Enforced Fraternity Destroys Liberty
The Influence of Socialist Writers
The Socialists Wish to Play God
The Socialists Despise Mankind
A Defense of Paternal Government
Socialists Ignore Reason and Facts
Socialists Want to Regiment People
A Famous Name and an Evil Idea
Socialists Want Forced Conformity
Legislators Desire to Mold Mankind
Legislators Told How to Manage Men
Socialists Want Equality of Wealth
The Error of the Socialist Writers
The Socialists Want Dictatorship
The Indirect Approach to Despotism
Napoleon Wanted Passive Mankind
The Vicious Circle of Socialism
The Socialist Concept of Liberty
The Socialists Reject Free Choice
The Cause of French Revolutions
The Enormous Power of Government
Law and Charity Are Not the Same
The Basis for Stable Government
The Path to Dignity and Progress