VII.
Attack upon private individuals and private property. - Aristocrats
denounced to the people as their enemies. - Effect of news from
Paris.- Influence of the village attorneys. - Isolated acts of
violence. - A general rising of the peasantry in the east. - War
against the castles, feudal estates, and property. - Preparations
for other Jacqueries.
Indeed, an outlawed class already exists, they are called "
aristocrats." This deadly term, applied at first to the nobles and
prelates in the States-General who declined to take part in the
reunion of the three orders, is extended so as to embrace all whose
titles, offices, alliances, and manner of living distinguish them
from the multitude. That which entitled them to respect is that
which marks them out as objects of ill-will; while the people, who,
though suffering from their privileges, did not regard them
personally with hatred, are now taught to consider them as their
enemies. Each, on his own estate, is held accountable for the evil
designs attributed to his brethren at Versailles, and, on the false
report of a plot at the center, the peasants classify him as one of
the conspirators.
Pages:
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186