Page:Essays on Political Economy (Bastiat).djvu/140

 foresee a difficult part for the candidates for popularity to play.

Read the last manifesto of the Montagnards&mdash;that which they issued on the occasion of the election of the President. It is rather long, but at length it concludes with these words:&mdash;Government ought to give a great deal to the people, and take little from them." It is always the same tactics, or, rather, the same mistake.

"Government is bound to give gratuitous instruction and education to all the citizens."

It is bound to give "A general and appropriate professional education, as much as possible adapted to the wants, the callings, and the capacities of each citizen."

It is bound "To teach every citizen his duty to God, to man, and to himself; to develop his sentiments, his tendencies, and his faculties; to teach him, in short, the scientific part of his labour; to make him understand his own interests, and to give him a knowledge of his rights."

It is bound "To place within the reach of all, literature and the arts, the patrimony of thought, the treasures of the mind, and all those intellectual enjoyments which elevate and strengthen the soul."

It is bound "To give compensation for every accident, from fire, inundation, &c, experienced by a citizen." (The et cætera means more that it says.)

It is bound "To attend to the relations of capital with labour, and to become the regulator of credit."