Ernest RENAN (1823-1892). Autograph manuscript; 1 page and a quarter in-8. Attached is a L.A.S., March 27, 1884 (1 p. in-8). Famous text on the idea of nation. Heavily crossed-out and corrected draft, with additions on the facing page of a speech. He insisted almost as much "on what philology does not teach us as on what it does teach us". But he denounced the misuse of this science, through a false application "to the affairs of the present time. Language and race appear to some politicians to be the sole basis of the law of nations". For the French doctrine: "Above language, race, religion, geography and interests, we place the consent of the people". And, after giving the example of Switzerland, he declares: "For us, a nation is a soul, a spirit, a spiritual family, resulting in the past from memories, sacrifices, glories, often from mourning and shared regrets, and in the present from the desire to continue living together. A nation means having done great things together, and wanting to do more"... Etc. [Renan would take up these ideas again in Qu'est-ce qu'une nation? (1882)]. Attached is a L.A.S., March 27, 1884 (1 p. in-8).