bits of supremacy, and convinced
that they are of a different species from other men, the prejudices of
their race are incorrigible; they are incapable of companionship with
their social equals; we cannot too carefully crush them out, or, at the
very least, hold them firmly down.[2140] Besides, they are guilty from
the fact of having existed; for, they have taken both the lead and the
command without any right to do so, and, in violation of all right, they
have misused mankind; having enjoyed their rank, it is but just that
they should pay for it. Privileged in reverse, they must be treated the
same as vagabonds were treated under their reign,

* stopped by the police and sent off with their families into the
interior,

* crowded into prisons,

* executed in a mass, or, at least,

* expelled from Paris, the seaports and fortified towns, put on the
limits,

* compelled to present themselves daily at the municipality,

* deprived of their political rights,

* excluded from public offices, "popular clubs, committees of
supervision and from communal and section assemblages."[2141]

Even this is indulgence; branded with infamy, we ought to class them
with galley-slaves, and set them to work on the public highways.[2142]

"Justice condemns the people's enemies and the partisans of tyranny to
eternal slavery."[2143]

But that is not enough, because, apart from the aristocracy of rank,
there are other aristocracies which the Constituent Assembly has left
untouched,[2144] especially the aristocracy of wealth. Of all the
sovereignties, that of the rich man over the poor one is the most
burdensome. In effect, not only, in contempt of equality, does he
consume more than his share of the common products of labor, and without
producing anything himself, but again, in contempt of liberty, he may
fix wages as he pleases, and, in contempt of humanity, he always fixes
them at the lowest point. Between himself and the needy he never makes
other than the most unjust contracts. Sole possessor of land, capital
and the necessities of life, he imposes conditions which others,
deprived of means, are forced to accept at the risk of starvation; he
speculates at his discretion on wants which cannot be put off, and makes
the most of his monopoly by maintaining the poor in their destitute
situations. That is why, writes Saint Just:[2145]

"Opulence is a disgrace; for every thousand livres expenditure of this
kind a smaller number of na