[MANUSCRIT] Théorie des climats - Placard autographe de l'Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements des Européens dans les deux Indes

[CLIMATE THEORY] - Unpublished autograph manuscript addition to Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements des Européens dans les deux Indes

Autograph manuscript by Abbot Raynal, in addition his famous Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements des Européens dans les deux Indes [History of the two Indies], one of the basic texts for the humanitarian movement and a keystone in the canon of Enlightenment thinking. Half a page in black ink on one leaf, a few words crossed out. Margins slightly browned, numbered plate label pastedown in margin. Pencil annotation in the upper part, as well as another in the hand of a previous bibliographer following the autograph text.
This fascinating insert on the influence of climate on people is new to our knowledge; as is the case on other inserts by Raynal, the autograph pagination "143" on this leaf undoubtedly takes up that of the edition of History published in 1780, and indicates that the abbot wanted to insert the leaf in the eleventh book of his History devoted to colonial possessions in Africa (chapter XVII, p. 143).This text does not appear in the following edition of the History of the Two Indies, published posthumously by Amable Costes in 1820, revised from Raynal's manuscripts. In this manuscript, Raynal develops one of the recurring themes of political philosophy during the Enlightenment: the meteorological climate theories. The abbot presents the natural environment as a determining factor of civilization or barbarism, surpassing laws and governments, shaping the behavior of people and explaining the abundance or poverty of their material and immaterial productions. The present manuscript is contemporary with this statement by Rousseau taken from the Confessions: “climates, seasons, colors, darkness, light, elements, food, noise, silence, movement, rest, everything acts on our machine and on our soul” and heir to the thought of Montesquieu, who makes a very similar speech in The Spirit of Law.
“In whatever part of the globe that man inhabits, the climate exerts an irresistible influence on his condition and character. In countries that are closer to the extremes of heat and cold, this influence is so noticeable that it strikes everyone's eyes. Whether we consider man simply as an animal or as a being with intellectual faculties which make him fit for action and meditation, we will find that it is in the temperate regions of the earth that he has constantly acquired the greatest perfection of which nature is capable; it is there that his constitution is the most rigorous, his form the most beautiful, his organs the most delicate. It is also here that he possesses a broader intelligence, a more fertile imagination, a more enterprising courage, and a sensitivity of soul which gives birth to passions which are not only ardent but lasting. It is in this favorable situation that we saw him deploy the greatest efforts of his genius in literature, in politics, in commerce, and in all the arts which embellish and perfect life. This power of climate is felt more strongly in wild natures and produces greater effects than in civilized societies. The talents of men continually serve to make their lives more comfortable. By their inventions and their industries, they manage to largely remedy the defects and inconveniences of all temperatures, but the savage devoid of foresight is affected by all the circumstances specific to the places where he lives. He takes no precautions to improve his situation. Like a plant or an animal, it is modified by the climate for which it was born and experiences its influence in all its force.”
An exceptional and probably unpublished addition to Abbé Raynal's ideological work, intended to enrich his vast and influential history of international trade in the 18th century.