Thanks to the completest of tyrannies, all obstacles were removed, and the laws which it pleased them to impose were always accepted.After ten years of violence, of destruction and burning and pillage and massacre and general upheaval, their impotence was revealed so startlingly that they fell into universal reprobation.The dictator then invoked by the whole of France was obliged to re-establish the greater part of that which had been destroyed.
The attempt of the Jacobins to re-fashion society in the name of pure reason constitutes an experiment of the highest interest.
Probably mankind will never have occasion to repeat it on so vast a scale.
Although the lesson was a terrible one, it does not seem to have been sufficient for a considerable class of minds, since even in our days we hear Socialists propose to rebuild society from top to bottom according to their chimerical plans.
3.Illusions respecting the Theoretical Value of the great Revolutionary Principles.
The fundamental principles on which the Revolution was based in order to create a new dispensation are contained in the Declarations of Rights which were formulated successively in 1789, 1793, and 1795.All three Declarations agree in proclaiming that ``the principle of sovereignty resides in the nation.''
For the rest, the three Declarations differ on several points, notably in the matter of equality.That of 1789 simply states (Article 1): ``Men are born and remain free and having equal rights.'' That of 1793 goes farther, and assures us (Article 3):
``All men are equal by nature.'' That of 1795 is more modest and says (Article 3): ``Equality consists in the law being the same for all.'' Besides this, having mentioned rights, the third Declaration considers it useful to speak of duties.Its morality is simply that of the Gospel.Article 2 says: ``All the duties of a man and a citizen derive from these two principles engraved on all hearts by nature: do not do unto others that which you would not they should do unto you; do constantly unto others the good you would wish to receive from them.''
The essential portions of these proclamations, the only portions which have really survived, were those relating to equality and popular sovereignty.
Despite the weakness of its rational meaning, the part played by the Republican device, Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, was considerable.
This magic formula, which is still left engraven on many of our walls until it shall be engraven on our hearts, has really possessed the supernatural power attributed to certain words by the old sorcerers.
Thanks to the new hopes excited by its promises, its power of expansion was considerable.Thousands of men lost their lives for it.Even in our days, when a revolution breaks out in any part of the world, the same formula is always invoked.
Its choice was happy in the extreme.It belongs to the category of indefinite dream-evoking sentences, which every one is free to interpret according to his own desires, hatreds, and hopes.In matters of faith the real sense of words matters very little; it is the meaning attached to them that makes their importance.
