Editing Benjamin Constant (section)

===Commerce preferable to war===
Constant believed that, in the modern world, commerce was superior to war. He attacked [[Napoleon]]'s belligerence, on the grounds that it was illiberal and no longer suited to modern commercial social organization. Ancient Liberty tended to rely on war, whereas a state organized on the principles of Modern Liberty would tend to be at peace with all other peaceful nations.

[[File:Mme de Staël avec sa fille Albertine.png|thumb|right|Painting by Marguerite Gérard, ''[[Germaine de Staël|Mme de Staël]] et sa fille'' (around 1805); de Staël was Constant's partner and intellectual collaborator]]
[[File:Johann Heinrich Schröder zugeschrieben, Portrait der Gräfin Charlotte von Hardenberg.jpg|thumb|right|Charlotte von Hardenberg, Constant's second, "secret" wife]]
[[File:Madame Recamier (1777–1849) by Alexandre-Evariste Fragonard.jpg|thumb|right| [[Juliette Récamier|Madame Récamier]] (1777–1849) by [[Alexandre-Evariste Fragonard]] Juliette Récamier was a friend and intellectual correspondent of Constant]]
Constant believed that if liberty were to be salvaged from the aftermath of the Revolution, then the chimera of Ancient Liberty had to be reconciled with the practical to achieve Modern Liberty. England, since the [[Glorious Revolution of 1688]], and the United Kingdom after 1707, had demonstrated the practicality of Modern Liberty and Britain was a [[constitutional monarchy]]. Constant concluded that constitutional monarchy was better suited than republicanism to maintaining Modern Liberty. He was instrumental in drafting the "Acte Additional" of 1815, which transformed Napoleon's restored rule into a modern constitutional monarchy.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/legislation/c_additional.html|title=The Act Additional 1815|website=www.napoleon-series.org}}</ref> This was only to last for "One Hundred Days" before Napoleon was defeated, but Constant's work nevertheless provided a means of reconciling monarchy with liberty. Indeed, the French Constitution (or Charter) of 1830 could be seen as a practical implementation of many of Constant's ideas: a hereditary monarchy existing alongside an elected Chamber of Deputies and a senatorial Chamber of Peers, with the executive power vested in responsible ministers. Thus, although often ignored in France, because of his Anglo-Saxon sympathies, Constant succeeded in contributing in a profound (albeit indirect) way to French constitutional traditions.