The Jesuits, according to Chinard, have promoted ‘dangerous ideas’ in giving us the impression of the good qualities of ‘savages’, and ‘this impression seems to have been contrary to the interests of the monarchical state and religion.’ In fact, Chinard’s fundamental characterization of Rousseau is as ‘un continuateur des missionaires Jésuites’, and he holds the missionaries responsible for giving rise to ‘the revolutionary spirits [who] would transform our society and, inflamed by reading their relations, bring us back to the state of the American savages’.58
