wo hundred members of the Convention had already
heartily sided with the Parisian electors[5143] against the terrorists.
This creates a strong opposition minority inside the Legislative Corps
which function protected by the Constitution. Hidden behind it and
behind them, the elite and the plurality of Frenchmen wait for better
days. The Directory is obliged to act cautiously with this large group,
so well supported by public opinion, and, accordingly, not to govern a
la Turk. So they respect, if not the spirit, at least the letter of the
law, and not to exercise a too barefaced influence on local elections.
Hence most of the local elections remain free, so that the nation,

* in spite of the decree excluding every relation of an emigre and every
notorious opponent of the government from present and future offices,

* in spite of fear, lassitude and disgust,

* in spite of the small number of votes, the rarity of candidates and
the frequent refusal of the elected to serve,[5144]

substantially exercises its privilege of electing its administrators
and judges according to its preferences. Consequently, the very
large majority of new administrators in the departments, cantons and
municipalities, and the very large majority of new civil and criminal
judges and justices of the peace are, like the new third of the
Convention, highly esteemed or estimable men. They are untainted with
excesses, still preserving their hopes of 1789, but preserved from the
outset against, or soon cured of, the revolutionary fever. Every decree
of spoliation or persecution loses some of its force in their hands.
Supported by the steady and manifest will of their present constituents,
we see them resisting the commissioners of the Directory, at least
protesting against their exactions and brutality, gaining time in favor
of the proscribed, dulling the point of, or turning aside, the Jacobin
sword.

Again, on the other hand, the government which holds this sword dare
not, like the Committee of Public Safety, thrust it in up to the hilt.
If wielded as before it might slip from its grasp. The furious in its
own camp are ready to wrest it away and turn the blade against it. It
must defend itself against the reviving clubs, against Babeuf and his
accomplices, against the desperadoes who, through a nocturnal attempt,
try to stir up the Grenelle camp: in Paris, there are four or five
thousand now ready to undertake a "civic St. Bartholomew," with the