《the origins of contemporary france-4》

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himself according to his nature; he can accordingly invent in every

sense; bring forth every sort of production and be useful to himself

and others in every way; thus enabling society to develop

indefinitely。



'14' Taine is probably speaking of the colonial wars in China and the

conquest of Madagascar。  (SR)。



'15' Here Taine is seeing mankind as being male; strong and hardy;

however I feel that liberty is more desirable for the strong and

confident while the child; the lost; the sick; the ignorant or feeble

person is looking for protection; reassurance and guidance。  When

society consisted of strong independent farmers; hunters; warriors;

nomads or artisans backed by family and clan; liberty was an important

idea。  Today few if any can rise above the horde and gain the

insights; the wisdom and the competence which once was such a common

thing。  Today the strong seek promotion inside the hierarchy of the

welfare state rest…house。  (S。R。)



'16' This is just what Lenin could not believe when he read this

around 1906。  Even Taine did not see how much a French government

organization depended upon staff recruited from a hardworking; modest

and honest French population。  We have now lived to see how the

nationalization of private property in Egypt; Argentina; Algeria not

to speak of Ethiopia and India proved disastrous and how 40 years of

government ownership should degrade and corrupt the populations of

Russia; China; Yugoslavia; Albania etc。  (SR)。



'17' When the function to be performed is of an uncertain or mixed

character the following rule may be applied in deciding whether the

State or individuals shall be entrusted with it; also in determining;

in the case of cooperation; what portion of it shall be assigned to

individuals and what portion to the State。  As a general rule; when

individuals; either singly or associated together; have a direct

interest in; or are drawn toward; a special function; and the

community has no direct interest therein; the matter belongs to

individuals and not to the State。  On the other hand; if the interest

of the community in any function is direct; and indirect for

individuals singly or associated together; it is proper for the State

and not for individuals to take hold of it。  … According to this rule

the limits of the public and private domain can be defined; which

limits; as they change backward and forward; may be verified according

to the changes which take place in interests and preferences; direct

or indirect。



'18' Carlyle: 〃Cromwell's Speeches and Letters;〃 III。; 418。

(Cromwell's address to the Parliament; September 17; 1656。)



'19' Seeley; 〃Life and Times of Stein;〃 II。; 143。  … Macaulay;

〃Biographical essays;〃 Frederick the Great。  33; 35; 87; 92。



'20' Eugene Schuyler; 〃Peter the Great;〃 vol。  2。



'21' Cf。  〃The Revolution〃 vol。  II。; pp。  46 and 323; vol。  III。; ch

I。  Archives des Affaires Etrangèrés。  Vol。  332。  (Letter by

Thiberge; Marseilles; Brumaire 14; year II。) 〃I have been to

Marteygne; a small town ten leagues from Marseilles; along with my

colleague Fournet; I found (je trouvée) seventeen patriots in a town

of give thousand population。〃 … Ibid。; (Letter by Regulus Leclerc;

Bergues; Brumaire 15; year II。) At Bergues; he says; 〃the municipality

is composed of traders with empty stores and brewers without beer

since the law of the maximum。〃 Consequently there is universal

lukewarmness; 〃only forty persons being found to form a popular club;

holding sessions as a favor every five days。  。  。  。  Public spirit

at Bergues is dead; fanaticism rules。〃 … Archives Nationales; F7; 7164

(Department of Var; reports of year V。  〃General idea。〃) … 〃At

Draguignan; out of seven thousand souls; forty patriots; exclusifs;

despised or dishonest; at Vidauban; nine or ten exclusifs; favored by

the municipality and who live freely without their means being known;

at Brignolles; frequent robberies on the road by robbers said to have

been very patriotic in the beginning of the Revolution: people are

afraid of them and dare not name them; at Fréjus; nine leading

exclusifs who pass all their time in the cafe。〃 … Berryat…Saint…Prix;

〃La Justice Révolutionnaire;〃 p。  146。  … Brutus Thierry; grocer;

member of the Rev。  Com。  Of Angers; said that 〃in angers; there were

not sixty revolutionaries。〃



'22' Macaulay。  〃History of England;〃 I。; 152。  〃The Royalists

themselves confessed that; in every department of honest industry; the

discarded warriors prospered beyond other men; that none was charged

with any theft or robbery; that none was heard to ask an alms; and

that; if a baker; a mason; or a waggoner attracted notice by his

diligence and sobriety; he was in all probability one of Oliver's old

soldiers。〃





BOOK THIRD。  THE MEN IN POWER。



CHAPTER I。  PSYCHOLOGY OF THE JACOBIN LEADERS。



I。



Marat。  … Disparity between his faculties and pretensions。  … The

Maniac。  … The Ambitious delirium。  … Rage for persecution。  … The

permanent nightmare。  … Homicidal frenzy。



Three men among the Jacobins; Marat; Danton and Robespierre; had

deserved preeminence and held authority: … that is because they; due

to a deformity or warping of their minds and their hearts; met the

required conditions。  …



Of the three; Marat is the most monstrous; he is nearly a madman; of

which he displays the chief characteristics … furious exaltation;

constant over…excitement; feverish restlessness; an inexhaustible

propensity for scribbling; that mental automatism and single…

mindedness of purpose constrained and ruled by a fixed idea。  In

addition to this; he displays the usual physical symptoms; such as

insomnia; a pallid complexion; hot…headed; foulness of dress and

person;'1' with; during the last five months of his life; rashes and

itching all over his body。'2'  Issuing from ill…matched stock; born of

a mixed blood and tainted with serious moral agitation;'3' he carries

within him a peculiar germ: physically; he is a freak; morally a

pretender; and one who covet all places of distinction。  His father;

who was a physician; intended; from his early childhood; that he

should be a scholar; his mother; an idealist; had prepared him to

become a philanthropist; while he himself always steered his course

towards both summits。



 〃At five years of age;〃 he says; 〃it would have pleased me to be a

school…master; at fifteen a professor; at eighteen an author; and a

creative genius at twenty;〃'4'and; afterwards; up to the last; an

apostle and martyr to humanity。   〃From my earliest infancy I had an

intense love of fame which changed its object at various stages of my

life; but which never left me for a moment。〃 He rambled over Europe or

vegetated in Paris for thirty years; living a nomadic life in

subordinate positions; hissed as an author; distrusted as a man of

science and ignored as a philosopher; a third rate political writer;

aspiring to every sort of celebrity and to every honor; constantly

presenting himself as a candidate and as constantly rejected; … too

great a disproportion between his faculties and ambition! Without

talents;'5' possessing no critical acumen and of mediocre

intelligence; he was fitted only to teach some branch of the sciences;

or to practice some one of the arts; either as professor or doctor

more or less bold and lucky; or to follow; with occasional slips on

one side or the other; some path clearly marked out for him。  〃But;〃

he says; 〃I constantly refused any subject which did not hold out a

promise。  。  。  。  of showing off my originality and providing great

results; for I cannot make up my mind to treat a subject already well

done by others。〃 … Consequently; when he tries to originate he merely

imitates; or commits mistakes。  His treatise on 〃 Man〃 is a jumble of

physiological and moral common…places; made up of ill…digested reading

and words strung together haphazard;'6' of gratuitous and incoherent

suppositions in which the doctrines of the seventeenth and eighteenth

centuries; coupled together; end in empty phraseology。  〃Soul and Body

are distinct substances with no essential relationship; being

connected together solely through the nervous fluid;〃 this fluid is

not gelatinous for the spirits by which it is renewed contains no

gelatin; the soul; excited by this; excites that; hence the place

assigned to it 〃in the brain。〃 … His 〃 Optics〃'7' is the reverse of

the great truth already discovered by Newton more than a century

before; and since confirmed by more than another century of experiment

and calculation。  On〃 Heat 〃 and 〃Electricity〃 he merely puts forth

feeble hypotheses and literary generalizations; one day; driven to the

wall; he inserts a needle in a resin to make this a conductor; in

which piece of scientific trickery he is caught by the physicist

Charles。'8' He is not even qualified to comprehend the great

discoverers of his age; Laplace; Monge;
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