s. At first only one-half of its useful energy has been destroyed
since only those services rendered by the rich and wealthy classes
have been dispensed with. Little else than the labor of the capitalist,
proprietor or contractor has been suppressed, whose far-reaching,
combined, comprehensive labor, the rewards of which consist of objects
of luxury and convenience, ensure for society that abundant supplies
are always on hand, through ready and spontaneous distribution of
indispensable commodities. There remains (for the Jacobins) to crush
out what is left of this laborious and nutritive fiber; the remnant
of useful energy has to be destroyed down to its extirpation among the
people. Here there must be a suppression, as far as possible, of all
manual, rude labor even on a small scale, and of its rudimentary
fruits; the discouragement of the insignificant shopkeeper, mechanic
and ploughman must be effected; the corner-grocer must be prevented from
selling his sugar and candles, and the cobbler from mending shoes: the
miller must think of giving up his mill and the wagoner of abandoning
his cart; the farmer must be convinced that the best thing he can do
is to get rid of his horses, eat his pork himself,[4230] let his oxen
famish and leave his crops to rot on the ground.--The Jacobins are to do
all this, for it is the inevitable result of the theory that they have
proclaimed and which they apply. According to this theory the stern,
strong, deep-seated instinct through which the individual stubbornly
holds on to what he has, to what he makes for himself and for those that
belong to him, is just the unwholesome fiber that must be rooted out
or paralyzed at any cost; its true name is "egoism, incivism," and
its operations consist of outrages on the community, which is the sole
legitimate proprietor of property and products, and, yet more, of all
persons and services. Body and soul, all belongs to the State, nothing
to individuals, and, if need be, the State has the right to take not
only lands and capital, but, again, to claim and tax at whatever rate
it pleases all corn and cattle, all vehicles and the animals that draw
them, all candles and sugar; it has the right to appropriate to itself
and tax at whatever rate it pleases, the labor of shoemaker, tailor,
miller, wagoner, ploughman, reaper and thrasher. The seizure of men and
things is universal, and the new sovereigns do their best at it; for, in
practice, necessity urges