es.

III. The object of the State is the regeneration of man.

The object of the State is the regeneration of man.--Two
sides to this undertaking.--Restoration of the Natural man.
--Formation of the Social man.--Grandeur of the undertaking.
--To carry it out, the use of force is a right and a duty.

There is nothing arbitrary in this operation; for the ideal model is
traced beforehand. If the State is omnipotent, it is for the purpose of
"regenerating Mankind," and the theory which confers its rights, at the
same time assigns to it its object. In what does this regeneration
of Man consist?--Consider a domestic animal such as a dog or a horse.
Scrawny, battered, tied up or chained, a thousand are strained and
overworked compared to the few basking in idleness, dying from rich
living; and with all of them, whether fat or lean, the soul is more
spoiled than the body. A superstitious respect keeps them cowed under
their burden, or makes them cringe before their master. Servile,
slothful, gluttonous, feeble, incapable of resisting adversity, if they
have acquired the miserable skills of slavery, they have also contracted
its needs, weaknesses and vices. A crust of absurd habits and perverse
inclinations, a sort of artificial and supplementary being, has covered
over their original nature.--And, on the other hand, the better side of
their original nature has had no chance to develop itself, for lack of
use. Separated from the other, these two parts of its nature have
not acquired the sentiment of community; they do not know, like their
brethren of the prairies, how to help each other and subordinate private
interests to the interests of the flock. Each pulls his own way,
nobody cares for others, all are egoists; social interests have
miscarried.--Such is Man nowadays, a disfigured slave that has to be
restored. Our task, accordingly is two-fold: we have to demolish and we
have to construct; we must first set free the natural Man that we may
afterwards build up the social Man.

It is a vast enterprise and we are conscious of its vastness.

"It is necessary," says Billaud-Varennes,[2120] "that the people to
which one desires to restore their freedom should in some way be created
anew, since old prejudices must be destroyed, old habits changed,
depraved affections improved, superfluous wants restricted, and
inveterate vices extirpated."

But the task is sublime, as the aim is "to fulfill the desir