ate than the
military organization, owing to the fact that it represents force, and
man is always tempted to abuse force; for any free company of soldiers
to remain inoffensive in a civil community, it must be restrained by
the strongest curbs, which curbs, either within or without, were wholly
wanting with the volunteers of 1792.[3243]

Artisans, peasants, the petty bourgeois class, youthful enthusiasts
stimulated by the prevailing doctrine, they are still much more Jacobin
than patriotic; the dogma of popular sovereignty, like a heady wine,
has turned their inexperienced brains; they are fully persuaded that,
"destined to contend with the enemies of the republic, is an honor which
permits them to exact and to dare all things."[3244] The least among
them believes himself superior to the law, "as formerly a Conde,[3245]"
and he becomes king on a small scale, self-constituted, an autocratic
justiciary and avenger of wrongs, a supporter of patriots and the
scourge of aristocrats, the disposer of lives and property, and, without
delay or formality, taking it upon himself to complete the Revolution on
the spot in every town he passes through.--He is not to be hindered in
all this by his officers. "Having created his chiefs, they are of no
more account to him than any of a man's creations usually are"; far from
being obeyed, the officers are not even respected, "and that comes from
resorting to analogies without considering military talent or moral
superiority."[3246] Through the natural effects of the system of
election, all grades of rank have fallen upon demagogues and blusterers.

"The intriguers, loud-talkers, and especially the great boozers, have
prevailed against the capable."[3247]

Besides, to retain his popularity, the new officer will go to a bar and
drink with his men,[3248] and he must show himself more Jacobin than
they are, from which it follows that, not content with tolerating
their excesses, he provokes them.--Hence, after March, 1792, and even
before,[3249] we see the volunteers behaving in France as in a conquered
country. Sometimes they make domiciliary visits, and break everything to
pieces in the house they visit. Sometimes, they force the re-baptism
of infants by the conventionalist cure, and shoot at the traditional
father. Here, of their own accord, they make arrests; there, they
join in with mutineers and stop grain-boats; elsewhere, they force a
municipality to tax bread; farther on, they burn