Page:Conventional Lies of our Civilization.djvu/130

116 know that many kinds of insects provide for their young by depositing their eggs near or in the middle of the substance which is to be the food of the young caterpillars, so that they find the table all spread for them when they emerge from the egg. In the same way every king wants to surround his heir even in the cradle, with a loyalty and submission which he could not obtain without help, and these sentiments he expects to find in the gratitude of a certain number of families whom he or his predecessors, have heaped with honors and wealth. This precautionary confidence of the monarchs is often deceived; in the moment of danger to their nearest personal interests, the living generations of aristocrats are apt to forget the debt of gratitude bequeathed to them by their ancestors along with their possessions and privileges, and abandon the prince to his adverse fate, who ought to find his safety in the dearly bought and paid for fidelity of the aristocracy. It would be a useless task to recall all the examples of such ingratitude recorded in history; it will be sufficient to mention the attitude of the English nobility towards William of Orange and George I., the relations between the legitimate aristocracy of France and the two Napoleons and Louis Philippe, and between the Napoleonic nobility and the reinstated Bourbon dynasty. But kings cling nevertheless to this untrustworthy pledge of the future, and lull themselves into a deceptive dream of security when they see themselves surrounded by a numerous set of nobles, as the soldier on the field of battle seeks shelter behind some cover which he knows at the same time, would oppose but little more resistance to the enemy's bullet than the air alone.

A strange spectacle, arousing astonishment and indignation, incredulity and ridicule, this mediæval comedy in the very midst of our modern civilization! One class