第416章

I.

Formation of the party. -- Its recruits -- These are rare in the upper class and amongst the masses. -- They are numerous in the low bourgeois class and in the upper stratum of the people. -- The position and education which enroll a man in the party.

PERSONALITIES like these are found in all classes of society； no situation or position in life protects one from wild Utopia or frantic ambition. We find among the Jacobins a Barras and a Chateauneuf-Randon， two nobles of the oldest families； Condorcet， a marquis， mathematician， philosopher and member of two renowned academies；Gobel， bishop of Lydda and suffragan to the bishop of Bale； Hérault de Séchellles， a protégé of the Queen's and attorney-general to the Paris parliament； Lepelletier de St. Fargeau， chief-justice and one of the richest land-owners in France； Charles de Hesse， major-general， born in the royal family； and， last of all， a prince of the blood and fourth personage in the realm， the Duke of Orleans. -- But， with the exception of these rare deserters， neither the hereditary aristocracy nor the upper magistracy， nor the highest of the middle class， none of the land-owners who live on their estates， or the leaders of industrial and commercial enterprises， no one belonging to the administration， none of those， in general， who are or deserve to be considered social authorities， furnish the party with recruits. All have too much at stake in the political establishment， shattered as it is， to wish its entire demolition. Their political experience， brief as it is， enables them to see at once that a habitable house is not built by merely tracing a plan of it on paper according the theorems of school geometry. -- On the other hand， among the ordinary rural population the ideology finds， unless it can be changed into a legend， no listeners. Share croppers， small holders and farmers looking after their own plots of ground， peasants and craftsmen who work too hard to think and whose minds never range beyond a village horizon， busy only with that which brings in their daily bread， find abstract doctrines unintelligible； should the dogmas of the new catechism arrest their attention the same thing happens as with the old one， they do not understand them； that mental faculty by which an abstraction is reached is not yet formed in them. On being taken to a political club they fall asleep； they open their eyes only when some one announces that tithes and feudal privileges are to be restored；they can be depended on for nothing more than a brawl and a jacquerie；later on， when their grain comes to be taxed or is taken， they prove as unruly under the republic as under the monarchy.

The believers in this theory come from other quarters， from the two extremes of the lower stratum of the middle class and the upper stratum of the low class. Again， in these two contiguous groups， which merge into each other， those must be left out who， absorbed in their daily occupations or professions， have no time or thought to give to public matters， who have reached a fair position in the social hierarchy and are not disposed to run risks， almost all of them well-established， steady-going， mature， married folks who have sown their wild oats and whom experience in life has rendered distrustful of themselves and of theories. Overweening conceit is， most of the time， only average in the average human being， so speculative ideas will with most people only obtain a loose， transient and feeble hold.

Moreover， in this society which， for many centuries consists of people accustomed to being ruled， the hereditary spirit is bourgeois that is to say， used to discipline， fond of order， peaceable and even timid.