Page:Readings in European History Vol 2.djvu/472

 434 Readings in European History to every vice, the rights of property violated and under- mined, our forces, both land and naval, in a worse state than at the opening of its reign ; that it has shaken, if not destroyed, the foundation of all military organization ; that it leaves our finances in chaos, the public debt considerably augmented, the annual deficit, according to the most favor- able calculators, increased by half, the taxes in arrears, their payment suspended, having struck at their very roots by the recklessness of an absolutely new system of which the imme- diate effects have been to make the people regard themselves as freed from taxation. It cannot disguise from itself that our influence and repu- tation in Europe are eclipsed ; that our commerce is less flourishing, our industry less productive, our population less numerous ; that our labor has decreased as well as the national wealth ; that it has caused the disappearance of the specie and dissipated an enormous amount of the public capital; that, finally, our internal police, in spite of numer- ous guards, is more oppressive and less effective than it was before the Revolution. We will add, what no one can deny, that the number of unfortunates of all classes has increased to a most frightful extent ; that misery and despair cast a funeral pall over the songs of triumph, the illuminations, the Te Deums and con- gratulatory speeches. I do not speak of the clergy and nobility ; their condition and birth having rendered them criminal in the eyes of the dominant party, their misfortunes are undoubtedly well-merited punishments, and four or five hundred private individuals, having declared themselves inviolable, have assumed the right to determine their fate as the judge determines that of criminals ; but I ask that a single class of Frenchmen, except the stockbrokers, be pointed out to me whose fortunes have not diminished and whose resources and prosperity have not been painfully affected ! In order justly to appreciate the conduct of our first law- makers, we must avoid the sophism by which they have con- stantly fascinated the common people, — that of comparing