kind of trial, defeat, misery and invasion, as with the French under
Louis XIV, the English under Pitt, the Prussians under Frederick II.,
without either sedition or internal disturbances, is certainly a
marvelous thing. And, for a people to remain free it is essential that
they should be ready to do this always. Neither this fidelity nor this
concord is due to sober reflection (la raison raisonnante); reason is
too vacillating and too feeble to bring about such a universal and
energetic result. Abandoned to itself and suddenly restored to a
natural condition, the human flock is capable only of agitation, of
mutual strife until pure force at length predominates, as in barbarous
times, and until, amidst the dust and outcry, some military leader
rises up who is, generally, a butcher. Historically considered it is
better to continue so than to begin over again. Hence, especially when
the majority is uncultivated, it is beneficial to have chiefs
designated beforehand through the hereditary custom by which people
follow them, and through the special education by which they are
qualified. In this case the public has no need to seek for them to
obtain them. They are already at hand, in each canton, visible,
accepted beforehand; they are known by their names, their title, their
fortune, their way of living; deference to their authority is
established. They are almost always deserving of this authority; born
and brought up to exercise it they find in tradition, in family
example and in family pride, powerful ties that nourish public spirit
in them; there is some probability of their comprehending the duties
with which their prerogative endows them.

Such is the renovation, which the feudal régime admits of. The
ancient chieftain can still guarantee his pre-eminence by his
services, and remain popular without ceasing to be privileged. Once a
captain in his district and a permanent gendarme, he is to become the