rstand this,
Saint-Arnaud, and you, Maupas, must look upon it as final.

But let us sift things to the bottom; there are oaths and oaths. The
oath which freely, solemnly, before the face of God and man, having
received a note of confidence from 6,000,000 of citizens, one swears
before the National Assembly, to the constitution of his country, to
the law, to the people, and to France, that is nothing, it is not
binding, one can trifle with it, laugh at it, and some fine day trample
it under foot; but the oath that one swears before the cannon's mouth,
at the sword's point, under the eye of the police, in order to retain
the employment that gives one food, to preserve the rank which is one's
property; the oath which, to save one's daily bread and that of one's
children, one swears to a villain, a rebel, the violator of the laws,
the slaughterer of the Republic, a fugitive from every court, the man
who himself has broken his oath--oh! that oath is sacred! Let us not
jest.

The oath that we take on the 2nd of December, nephew of the 18th
Brumaire, is sacrosanct!

What I admire most is its ineptitude. To receive as so much ready money
and coin of good alloy, all those "I swear" of the official commons;
not even to think that every scruple has been overcome, and that there
cannot be in them all one single word of pure metal! He is both a
prince and a traitor! To set the example from the summit of the State,
and to imagine that it will not be followed! To sow lead, and expect to
reap gold! Not even to perceive that, in such a case, every conscience
will model itself on the conscience at the summit, and that the perjury
of the prince transmutes all oaths into counterfeit coin.

II

DIFFERENCE IN PRICE

And from whom, then, are oaths required? From that prefect? he has
betrayed the state. From that general? he has betrayed his colours.
From that magistrate? he has betrayed the law. From all these
office-holders? they have betrayed the Republic. A strange thing, and
calculated to make the philosopher reflect, is this heap of traitors
from which comes this heap of oaths!

Let us, then, dwell upon this charming feature of the 2nd of
December:--

M. Bonaparte Louis believes in men's oaths! he believes in the oaths
that one takes to him! When M. Rouher takes off his glove, and says, "I
swear;" when M. Suin takes off his glove, and says, "I swear;" when M.
Troplong places his hand upon his breast, on that spot where