tion and
discontent. These sentiments were general on the eve of the Revolution.
"The lesser clergy," says Taine, "are hostile to the prelates; the
provincial gentry to the nobility of the court; the vassals to the
seigneurs; the peasants to the townsmen, etc."

This state of mind, which had been communicated from the nobles and
clergy to the people, also invaded the army. At the moment the States
General were opened, Necker said: "We are not sure of the troops." The
officers were becoming humanitarian and philosophical. The soldiers,
recruited from the lowest class of the population, did not philosophize,
but they no longer obeyed. In their feeble minds the ideas of equality
meant simply the suppression of all leaders and masters, and therefore
of all obedience. In 1790 more than twenty regiments threatened their
officers, and sometimes, as at Nancy, threw them into prison.

The mental anarchy which, after spreading through all classes of
society, finally invaded the army was the principal cause of the
disappearance of the _ancien regime_. "It was the defection of the army
affected by the ideas of the Third Estate," wrote Rivarol, "that
destroyed royalty."

The genesis of the French Revolution, as well as its duration, was
conditioned by elements of a rational, affective, mystic, and collective
nature, each category of which was ruled by a different logic. The
rational element usually invoked as an explanation exerted in reality
but very slight influence. It prepared the way for the Revolution, but
maintained it only at the outset, while it was still exclusively middle
class. Its action was manifested by many measures of the time, such as
the proposals to reform the taxes, the suppression of the privileges of
a useless nobility, etc.

As soon as the Revolution reached the people, the influence of the
rational elements speedily vanished before that of the affective and
collective elements. As for the mystic elements, the foundation of the
revolutionary faith, they made the army fanatical and propagated the new
belief throughout the world.

We shall see these various elements as they appeared in events and in
the psychology of individuals. Perhaps the most important was the mystic
element. The Revolution cannot be clearly comprehended--we cannot repeat
it too often--unless it is considered as the formation of a religious
belief. What I have said elsewhere of all beliefs applies equally to the
Revolution. They impos