How 1,500 handwritten pages by Voltaire and those close to him — letters, poems, essays, notes, originals and period copies — ended up in North Hatley, in the Eastern Townships ? In these papers where sharp words run the general idea reigns that a greater knowledge of the world can help us to repel its barbarism. Prominent on some papers, the seal of the philosopher or his signature. On occasion they have been razor cut by autograph hunters of times past.
Among these precious papers, here is a poem by Voltaire addressed to Émilie du Châtelet, a remarkable scientist, translator of Newton, one of the great passions of the philosopher’s eventful life. Here, a letter from Mme Denis, last companion of Voltaire. She complains that the workers are making too much noise at the castle that the philosopher bought in Ferney, a small town of nothing located in France, near Switzerland, a stone’s throw from Geneva. There, they are rather handwritten pages of a work of the historian Voltaire. It is easy to read it. The writing is precise. In the margin, his notes, his observations, his doubts, his certainties too, all of this giving a lesson in intellectual work.
Until June, a small portion of this precious collection is on display in Sherbrooke, in the den of the Center d’archives Mgr-Antoine-Racine, located behind the cathedral. A luminous and nevertheless curious place to house the manuscripts of the most famous philosopher of the Age of Enlightenment, at least if we consider the bad fate that the clergy constantly reserved for him. The permanent collection of this archive center testifies to the bad fate that was constantly meted out, with great blows of prohibitions, to a whole literature deemed too influenced by the “infamous” Voltaire.
A castle life
“I spent all my youth at the Château de Ferney”, explains Peter Southam, the owner of this unexpected collection. “My father was a diplomat, in Sweden and then in Poland. A boarder in a school in England after having studied in Sweden, little Peter is sent every summer to his maternal grandparents in Ferney. Their house ? Voltaire’s castle, of course! Voltaire had spent the last twenty years of his life there. Until the philosopher’s death in 1778, all that Europe had of thinkers sensitive to his ideas met there.
“Since my grandparents were quite old, explains Southam, it was a bit boring in Ferney. I spent my days near the castle gate, where the gardener lived. Every day, someone rang to ask to visit these places where Voltaire had lived. I asked my grandparents for permission to show them around… We had a small museum. On Saturdays, there were also real tours, led by specialists. Throughout my childhood, I heard people talking about Voltaire. Very early on, Southam understood the cult of reason to which the philosopher adhered.
Hamilton Southam, his father, was not only a Canadian diplomat, but also the instigator and first director of the National Arts Center (NAC) in Ottawa. A former history professor at the University of Sherbrooke, Peter Southam belongs to a wealthy family whose name is linked to the history of the media. The great-grandfather had founded the Southam chain of newspapers, which counted, among several other titles, the Calgary HeraldL’ottawa citizen and, in Montreal, The Gazette. At its foundation, the very year of Voltaire’s death, The Gazette was a newspaper printed in French, reputed to be sensitive to the ideas of the philosopher, which were unlikely to please the colonial power.
A family story
Peter Southam’s maternal family lived in the Château de Ferney from 1848 to 1999, when the famous residence was ceded to the French Republic. It is now possible to visit it more easily. Events are held on occasion in the gardens, or what remains of the orangery, not far from an old church that Voltaire had had dedicated to God, not liking, he said, that we always consecrate these buildings to his lackeys the saints.
The collection of manuscripts ended up being housed in the cozy and opulent charm of North Hatley, a village of the English-speaking bourgeoisie located on the outskirts of Sherbrooke. “I have nothing to do with this collection! I am in a way only the ferryman, ”explains this historian with battled eyebrows.
When Voltaire acquired the château in 1759, he immediately undertook vast works to spruce up the premises as much as the surroundings. He set up a watch factory, without hiding his ambition to short-circuit the trade in watches produced in Geneva. In the documents of Peter Southam is a letter of recommendation for master watchmakers signed by the hand of the philosopher as well as letters that he addresses to members of the French diplomatic corps to promote the sale of his watches. In Ferney, Voltaire also had the marshes drained and launched an agricultural reform. He also embarked on the breeding of silkworms. And all this without losing sight of what matters most: his work, his writings. He will continue to publish books and influence the life of ideas. On the ground floor of the castle, in his apartments, he will write more than 13,000 letters. “Voltaire is a communication company,” says Peter Southam. We have no idea how effective it is. »
How were the Voltaire pages recovered by Peter Southam’s family? “I don’t have proof of this, but no doubt a large number of the manuscripts I own come from Voltaire’s secretary, Jean-Louis Wagnière. He had remained in Ferney. It is probably from him that my ancestor, Claude-Marie David, acquired some of these papers. Claude-Marie David greatly admired Voltaire, partly because he had fought, at the end of his life, to put an end to serfdom in the Jura. »
Peasants were subjected to the monks of the abbey of Saint-Claude. Voltaire could not bear it, as several original documents contained in this rich collection prove. Isn’t it paradoxical to see Voltaire fight for the emancipation of the serfs while seeing him close his eyes more or less to speculative enterprises in which he takes part and whose profits are due to the enslavement of Africans? “I don’t know this part of Voltaire’s life well, explains Peter Southam, but his fight against this injustice in the Jura like many others is undeniable. »
Claude-Marie David’s daughter and her husband, the sculptor Émile Lambert, continued to develop this Voltairian collection in the 19th century.and century. To Lambert, we owe a well-known statue of Voltaire, a bronze reproduction of which sits at the center of the Sherbrooke exhibition.
Voltaire is a communication company. We have no idea how effective it is.
See the writings of Voltaire
No question of engaging in a Quebec tour of the original documents exhibited under the glass of the old oak displays of the defunct Musée du Séminaire de Sherbrooke. “These are too precious documents. It’s not easy to let them circulate everywhere,” says Peter Southam. The exhibition is also enhanced by showcases devoted to Voltaire’s influence in Canada, which were prepared by historian Pierre Hébert.
This vast Voltairean collection will soon benefit from digitization, in collaboration with the University of Sherbrooke and the Voltaire Foundation in London. Researchers around the world will be able to benefit more easily.
What will happen to these manuscripts, of which only a very small portion is on display until the end of spring at the Center d’archives Mgr-Antoine-Racine? “Most of the documents are known, but there are some unpublished and, above all, old versions of less known documents, writings also which show that Voltaire, as a historian, cared about sources and worked methodically to establish the truth. […] I will no doubt entrust them to an institution in order to ensure their preservation. The choice has not yet been made, but it is certain that McGill University has a head start, since it already has an important collection around Voltaire. »