Consulate and the Empire, either consolidation or dissolution, have
not yet reached their historic term: since 1800, the social order of
things, notwithstanding eight changes of political form, has remained
almost intact. Our children or grandchildren will know whether it
will finally succeed or miscarry; witnesses of the denouement, they
will have fuller light by which to judge of the entire drama. Thus
far four acts only have been played; of the fifth act, we have simply
a presentiment. - On the other hand, by dint of living under this
social system, we have become accustomed to it; it no longer excites
our wonder; however artificial it may be it seems to us natural. We
can scarcely conceive of another that is healthier; and what is much
worse, it is repugnant to us to do so. For, such a conception would
soon lead to comparisons and hence to a judgment and, on many points,
to an unfavorable judgment, one which would be a censure, not only of
our institutions but of ourselves. The machine of the year VIII,[1]
applied to us for three generations, has permanently shaped and fixed
us as we are, for better or for worse. If, for a century, it sustains
us, it represses us for a century. We have contracted the infirmities
it imports - stoppage of development, instability of internal balance,
disorders of the intellect and of the will, fixed ideas and ideas that
are false. These ideas are ours; therefore we hold on to them, or,
rather, they have taken hold of us. To get rid of them, to impose the
necessary recoil on our mind, to transport us to a distance and place
us at a critical point of view, where we can study ourselves, our
ideas and our institutions as scientific objects, requires a great
effort on our part, many precautions, and long reflection. - Hence,
the delays of this study; the reader will pardon them on considering
that an ordinary opinion, caught on the wing, on such a subject, does
not suffice. In any event, when one presents an opinion on such a
subject one is bound to believe it. I can believe in my own only when