rights, as fools are told, nor of rank; it is a question of the State
and of the existence of France. The country which does not rest on the
foundation of paternal authority cannot be stable. That is the foot of
the ladder of responsibility and subordination, which has for its
summit the King.

"The King stands for us all. To die for the King is to die for
oneself, for one's family, which, like the kingdom, cannot die. All
animals have certain instincts; the instinct of man is for family
life. A country is strong which consists of wealthy families, every
member of whom is interested in defending a common treasure; it is
weak when composed of scattered individuals, to whom it matters little
whether they obey seven or one, a Russian or a Corsican, so long as
each keeps his own plot of land, blind, in their wretched egotism, to
the fact that the day is coming when this too will be torn from them.

"Terrible calamities are in store for us, in case our party fails.
Nothing will be left but penal or fiscal laws--your money or your
life. The most generous nation on the earth will have ceased to obey
the call of noble instincts. Wounds past curing will have been
fostered and aggravated, an all pervading jealousy being the first.
Then the upper classes will be submerged; equality of desire will be
taken for equality of strength; true distinction, even when proved and
recognized, will be threatened by the advancing tide of middle-class
prejudice. It was possible to choose one man out of a thousand, but,
amongst three millions, discrimination becomes impossible, when all
are moved by the same ambitions and attired in the same livery of
mediocrity. No foresight will warn this victorious horde of that other
terrible horde, soon to be arrayed against them in the peasant
proprietors; in other words, twenty million acres of land, alive,