De Bonald Contra Jewish Emancipation

[From @BThiong1885] Did you know?

Louis de Bonald (1754-1840), the great French counter-revolutionary thinker, monarchist and traditionalist Catholic, published a virulent text in 1806 against the emancipation of the Jews, denouncing Judaism as a foreign, parasitic force incompatible with French Christian society?

Louis de Bonald embodies the lucid reaction against the Revolution: he sees the Jewish emancipation of 1791 not as progress, but as an existential threat that dissolves the traditional order, Christian morality and national cohesion.

In his article “On the Jews” (Mercure de France, 8 February 1806), he asserts that the Jews form an “imperium in imperio” (a state within a state), that they are at war with Christian morality, that they live as parasites and remain a perpetually foreign people, even on French soil.
He compares their situation to that of freed Blacks and accuses the Enlightenment philosophers of having intellectually armed this senseless emancipation. He even goes so far as to write that if a Jewish Sanhedrin became the legislator, it could not produce laws more atrocious than those of the revolutionary Convention.

For Bonald, Judaism is not merely a different religion: it is a parallel society that refuses assimilation, practises usury and undermines the Catholic foundations of France. He calls for the return of discriminatory measures (distinctive markings, professional restrictions) to protect the nation.

Links in French that confirm these criticisms (serious sources):

• French Wikipedia article on Louis de Bonald (detailed section on his 1806 antisemitic text with quotes):
  https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_de_Bonald#Sur_les_Juifs
• Original text “Sur les Juifs” (Mercure de France, 1806) available on Gallica:
  https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1040572f/f9.item
• Jewish Encyclopedia (English article but very precise on his accusations: imperium in imperio, parasites, war against morality):
  https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3464-bonald-louis-gabriel-ambroise-vicomte-de
• Analysis in “Les gauches antisémites” (Fondapol) which explicitly mentions his 1806 text:
  https://www.fondapol.org/etude/les-gauches-antisemites/

(The post also includes a classical portrait of Louis de Bonald.)