demanded a secret session to discuss the conciliatory measures which
the King had proposed, the galleries hoot at him, and a deputy, M.
Bourche, addresses him in very plain terms. "You must know, sir,
that we are deliberating here in the presence of our masters, and
that we must account to them for our opinions." This is the doctrine
of the Contrat-Social. Through timidity, fear of the Court and of
the privileged class, through optimism and faith in human nature,
through enthusiasm and the necessity of adhering to previous
actions, the deputies, who are novices, provincial, and given up to
theories, neither dare nor know how to escape from the tyranny of
the prevailing dogma. -- Henceforth it becomes the law. All the
Assemblies, the Constituent, the Legislative, the Convention,[29]
submit to it entirely. The public in the galleries is the admitted
representatives of the people, under the same title, and even under
a higher title, than the deputies. Now, this public is that of the
Palais-Royal, consisting of strangers, idlers, lovers of novelties,
Paris romancers, leaders of the coffee-houses, the future pillars of
the clubs, in short, the wild enthusiasts among the middle-class,
just as the crowd which threatens doors and throws stones is
recruited from among the wild enthusiasts of the lowest class. Thus
by an involuntary selection, the faction which constitutes itself a
public power is composed of nothing but violent minds and violent
hands. Spontaneously and without previous concert dangerous
fanatics are joined with dangerous brutes, and in the increasing
discord between the legal authorities this is the illegal league
which is certain to overthrow all.

When a commanding general sits in council with his staff-officers
and his counselors, and discusses the plan of a campaign, the chief
public interest is that discipline should remain intact, and that