," he said, "look at the
point to which impunity conducts us! It is always the source of great
crimes, and is now the sole cause of the disorganised state into which
society is plunged. The plans of toleration proposed to you are very
well for tranquil times; but can we tolerate those who will neither
tolerate the constitution nor the laws? Will it be when French blood has
at last stained the waves of the sea, that you will become sensible of
the dangers of indulgence? It is time that every thing is submitted to
the will of the nation; that tiaras, diadems, and censers should yield
to the sceptre of the laws. The facts you have just heard are but the
prelude of what is about to occur in the rest of the kingdom. Consider
the circumstances of these troubles, and you will see that they have the
effect of a disorganised system contemporary with the constitution. This
system was born there! (the orator pointed to the right) it is
sanctioned at the court of Rome. It is but a real fanaticism we have to
unmask--it is but hypocrisy! The priests are the privileged brawlers,
who ought to be punished by penalties more severe than mere private
individuals. Religion is an all-powerful weapon. 'The priest,' says
Montesquieu, 'takes the man from the cradle, and accompanies him to the
tomb;' is it then astonishing that he should have so much control over
the mind of the people, and that it is requisite to make laws, in order
that under a pretence of religion it should not trouble the public
peace? What should be the nature of such a law? I maintain that one only
can be efficacious, and that is banishment from the realm. (The tribunes
hailed this with loud applause.) Do you not see that it is necessary to
separate the factious priest from the people whom he misleads, and send
away these plague-spotted men to the lazarettos of Italy and Rome? I am
told that the measure is too severe. What!--you are then blind and mute
at all that occurs! Are you then ignorant that a priest can effect more
mischief than all your enemies? I am answered, 'Ah! you should not
persecute.' My answer is, that to punish is not to persecute. I answer
thus to those who repeat what I heard retorted here on the Abbe Maury,
that nothing is more dangerous than to make martyrs. This danger only
exists when you have to strike fanatics in earnest, or men really pious,
who believe the scaffold to be the nearest footstool to heaven. This is
not the present case; for if there b