murderer, robber[51134]
and, as they were then styled, "man-eaters." What is worse is that a
falsification of the word has brought discredit on the thing.--Nobody,
say the reports, troubles himself about the general interest;[51135]
nobody will serve as national guard or mayor.

"Public spirit has fallen into such a lethargic slumber as to make one
fear its complete collapse. Our successes or our failures excite neither
uneasiness nor pleasure.[51136] It seems, on reading the accounts of
battles, as if it were the history of another people. The changes that
take place within our borders no longer excite any emotion; one asks
out of curiosity, one is answered without any interest, one learns with
indifference."

"The pleasures of Paris[51137] are not disturbed a moment by any the
Crises which succeed each other, nor by those which are feared. Never
were the theatres and public entertainments more frequented. At the
'Tivoli,' it is said that it is going to be worse than ever; the country
(patrie) is called la patraque, and dancing goes on."

This is understandable enough; how can one interest one's self in the
public weal when there is none, when the common patrimony of all has
become the private property of a gang, when this gang is devouring
or wasting all in the interior and outside the frontier, where it is
playing heads or tails? The Jacobins, through their final victory,
have dried patriotism up, that is to say, the deep inward spring which
supplies the substance, the vitality and the force of the State.--In
vain do they multiply rigorous decrees and imperious prescriptions;
each energetic blow is absorbed by the general and mute resistance of
intentional passivity and of insurmountable disgust. They do not obtain
from their subjects any of that unconscious obedience, that degree
of passive co-operation, without which the law remains a dead
letter.[51138] Their Republic, so young,

"is attacked by that nameless malady which commonly attacks only old
governments, a species of senile consumption to which one can give no
other definition than that of the difficulty of living; nobody strives
to overthrow it, although it seems to have lost the power of standing
erect."[51139]

Not only does their domination paralyze instead of animating the State,
but, with their own hands, they undermine the order they themselves have
established. Whether legal or extra-legal, it makes no difference: under
their rule, no constitut