cs and trades-syndics, all those showing more
deeply and visibly than the rest of their class, the five or six blazes
which summon the ax. They are better off, better provided with desirable
comforts and conveniences, which is of itself an offense against
equality. Having accumulated a small hoard, a few pieces of plate,
sometimes a few crowns,[41108] a store of linen and clothes, a stock of
provisions or goods, they do not willingly submit to being plundered,
which is the offense of egoism. Being egoists, it is presumed that they
are hostile to the system of fraternity, at least indifferent to it, as
well as lukewarm towards the Republic, that is to say, Moderates, which
is the worst offense of all.[41109] Being the foremost of their class,
they are haughty like the nobles or the bourgeois and regard themselves
as superior to a poor man, to a vagabond, to a genuine sans-culotte, the
fourth and most inexcusable of all offenses. Moreover, from the fact of
their superior condition, they have contracted familiarities and formed
connections with the proscribed class; the farmer, the intendant, the
overseer is often attached to his noble proprietor or patron;[41110]
many of the farmers, shopkeepers and craftsmen belonging to old families
are considered as affiliated with the bourgeoisie or the clergy,[41111]
through a son or brother who has risen a degree in trade, or by some
industrial pursuit, or who, having completed his studies, has become a
cure or lawyer, or else through some daughter, or well-married sister,
or through one who has become a nun: now, this relation, ally, friend
or comrade of a "suspect "is himself a "suspect,"--the last
anti-revolutionary and decisive barrier. Sober and well-behaved persons,
having prospered or maintained themselves under the ancient regime,
must naturally cherish respect for former institutions; they must
involuntarily retain a deep feeling of veneration for the King, and
especially for religion; they are devout Catholics, and therefore
are chagrined to see the churches shut up, worship prohibited and
ecclesiastics persecuted, and would again be glad to go to Mass, honor
Easter, and have an orthodox cure who could administer to them available
sacraments, a baptism, an absolution, a marriage-rite, a genuine extreme
unction.[41112]--Under all these headings, they have made personal
enemies of the rascals who hold office; on all these grounds, they are
struck down; what was once meritoriou