"Here，" writes the Troyes agent，[131] "public spirit not only needs to be revived， but it needs to be re-created. Scarcely one-fifth of the citizens side with the government， and this fifth is hated and despised by the majority. . . . Who attend upon and celebrate the national fêtes？ Public functionaries whom the law summons to them， and many of these fêtes often dispense with them. It is the same public spirit which does not allow honest folks to take part in them and in the addresses made at them， and which keeps those women away who ought to be their principal ornament. . . . The same public spirit looks only with indifference and contempt on the republican， heroic actions given on the stage， and welcomes with transport all that bears any allusion to royalty and the ancient régime. The parvenus themselves of the Revolution， the generals， the deputies， dislike Jacobin institutions；[132] they place children in the chapel schools and send them to the confessional， while the deputies who， in '92 and '93， showed the most animosity to priests， do not consider their daughter well brought up unless she has made her first communion. " -The little are still more hostile than the great.
"A fact unfortunately too true，" writes the commissary of a rural canton，[133] "is that the people en masse seem not to want any of our institutions. . . . It is considered well-bred， even among country folks， to show disdain for everything characteristic of republican usages. . . Our rich farmers， who have profited most by the Revolution， are the bitterest enemies of its forms： any citizen who depended on them for the slightest favor and thought it well to address them as citizen， would be turned out of their houses."To call someone Citizen is an insult， and patriot a still greater one； for this term signifies Jacobin， partisan， murderer， robber[134]
and， as they were then styled， "man-eaters." What is worse is that a falsification of the word has brought discredit on the thing. -Nobody， say the reports， troubles himself about the general interest；[135] nobody will serve as national guard or mayor.
"Public spirit has fallen into such a lethargic slumber as to make one fear its complete collapse. Our successes or our failures excite neither uneasiness nor pleasure.[136] It seems， on reading the accounts of battles， as if it were the history of another people. The changes that take place within our borders no longer excite any emotion； one asks out of curiosity， one is answered without any interest， one learns with indifference.""The pleasures of Paris[137] are not disturbed a moment by any the Crises which succeed each other， nor by those which are feared. Never were the theatres and public entertainments more frequented. At the 'Tivoli，' it is said that it is going to be worse than ever； the country (patrie) is called la patraque， and dancing goes on."This is understandable enough； how can one interest one's self in the public weal when there is none， when the common patrimony of all has become the private property of a gang， when this gang is devouring or wasting all in the interior and outside the frontier， where it is playing heads or tails？ The Jacobins， through their final victory， have dried patriotism up， that is to say， the deep inward spring which supplies the substance， the vitality and the force of the State. - In vain do they multiply rigorous decrees and imperious prescriptions；each energetic blow is absorbed by the general and mute resistance of intentional passivity and of insurmountable disgust. They do not obtain from their subjects any of that unconscious obedience， that degree of passive co-operation， without which the law remains a dead letter.[138] Their Republic， so young，"is attacked by that nameless malady which commonly attacks only old governments， a species of senile consumption to which one can give no other definition than that of the difficulty of living； nobody strives to overthrow it， although it seems to have lost the power of standing erect."[139]
