第667章

On the contrary， their reign is only a day old and they themselves are interlopers. At first installed by a coup d'état and afterwards by the semblance of an election， they have extorted or obtained by trick the suffrages through which they act. They are so familiar with fraud and violence that， in their own Assembly， the ruling minority has seized and held on to power by violence and fraud， putting down the majority by riots， and the departments by force of arms. To give their brutalities the semblance of right， they improvise two pompous demonstrations， first， the sudden manufacture of a paper constitution， which molders away in their archives， and next， the scandalous farce of a hollow and compulsory plebiscite. - A dozen leaders of the party concentrate unlimited authority in their own hands； but， as admitted by them， their authority is derivative； it is the Convention which makes them its delegates； their precarious title has to be renewed monthly； a turn of the majority may sweep them and their work away to-morrow； an insurrection of the people， whom they have familiarized with insurrection， may to-morrow sweep them away， their work and their majority. - They maintain only a disputed， limited and transient ascendancy over their adherents. They are not military chieftains like Cromwell and Napoleon， generals of an army obeyed without a murmur， but common stump-speakers at the mercy of an audience that sits in judgment on them. There is no discipline in this public；every Jacobin remains independent by virtue of his principles； if he accepts leaders， it is with a reservation of their worth to him；selecting them as he pleases， he is free to change them when he pleases； his trust in them is intermittent， his loyalty provisional， and， as his adhesion depends on a mere preference， he always reserves the right to discard the favorite of to-day as he has discarded the favorite of yesterday. In this audience， there is no such thing as subordination； the lowest demagogue， any noisy subaltern， a Hébert or Jacques Roux， aspiring to step out of the ranks， overbidding the charlatans in office in order to obtain their places. Even with a complete and lasting ascendancy over an organized band of docile supporters， the Jacobin leaders would be feeble for lack of reliable and competent instruments； for they have but very few partisans other than those of doubtful probity and of notorious incapacity. -Cromwell had around him， to carry out the puritan program， the moral élite of the nation， an army of rigorists， with narrow consciences， but much more strict towards themselves than towards others， men who never drank and who never swore， who never indulged for a moment in sensuality or idleness， who forbade themselves every act of omission or commission about which they held any scruples， the most honest， the most temperate， the most laborious and the most persevering of mankind，[22] the only ones capable of laying the foundations of that practical morality on which England and the United States still subsist at the present day. - Around Peter the Great， in carrying out his European program， stood the intellectual élite of the country， an imported staff of men of ability associated with natives of moderate ability， every well-taught resident foreigner and indigenous Russian， the only ones able to organize schools and public institutions， to set up a vast central and regular system of administration， to assign rank according to service and merit， in short， to erect on the snow and mud of a shapeless barbarism a conservatory of civilization which， transplanted like an exotic tree， grows and gradually becomes acclimated. - Around Couthon， Saint-Just， Billaud， Collot， and Robespierre， with the exception of certain men devoted， not to Utopianism but the country， and who， like Carnot， conform to the system in order to save France， there are but a few sectarians to carry out the Jacobin program. These are men so short-sighted as not to clearly comprehend its fallacies， or sufficiently fanatical to accept its horrors， a lot of social outcasts and self-constituted statesmen， infatuated through incommensurate faculties with the parts they play， unsound in mind and superficially educated， wholly incompetent， boundless in ambition， their consciences perverted， callous or deadened by sophistry， hardened through arrogance or killed by crime， by impunity and by success.