The things we do!

-- Persons and possessions, great and small, private
individuals and public functionaries, the Government itself, all is
in the hands of the mob. "From this moment," says a deputy,[56]
"liberty did not exist even in the National Assembly . . . France
stood dumb before thirty factious persons. The Assembly became in
their hands a passive instrument, which they forced to serve them in
the execution of their projects." -- They themselves do not lead,
although they seem to lead. The great brute, which has taken the
bit in its mouth, holds on to it, and it's plunging becomes more
violent. Not only do both spurs which maddened it, I mean the
desire for innovation and the daily scarcity of food, continue to
prick it on. But also the political hornets which, increasing by
thousands, buzz around its ears. And the license in which it revels
for the first time, joined to the applause lavished upon it, urges
it forward more violently each day. The insurrection is glorified.
Not one of the assassins is sought out.


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