Thus the force which is brought forward to
suppress insurrection only serves to furnish it with recruits. And
even worse, for the display of arms that was relied on to restrain
the mob, furnished the instigation to rebellion.
VI.
July 13th and 14th 1789.
The fatal moment has arrived; it is no longer a government which
falls that it may give way to another; it is all government which
ceases to exist in order to make way for an intermittent despotism,
for factions blindly impelled on by enthusiasm, credulity, misery,
and fear.[33] Like a tame elephant suddenly become wild again, the
mob throws off it ordinary driver, and the new guides who it
tolerates perched on its neck are there simply for show. In future
it will move along as it pleases, freed from control, and abandoned
to its own feelings, instincts, and appetites. -- Apparently, there
was no desire to do more than anticipate its aberrations. The King
has forbidden all violence; the commanders order the troops not to
fire;[34] but the excited and wild animal takes all precautions for
insults; in future, it intends to be its own conductor, and, to
begin, it treads its guides under foot.
Pages:
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109