But here also a jacquerie awaits them. As
the effects of the Constitution are developed, successive
administrations become feebler and more partial; the unbridled
populace has become more excitable and more violent; the enthroned
club has become more suspicious and more despotic. Henceforth the
club, through or in opposition to the administrative bodies, leads
the populace, and the nobles will find it as hostile as the
peasants. All their reunions, even when liberal, are closed like
that in Paris, through the illegal interference of mobs, or through
the iniquitous action of the popular magistrates. All their
associations, even when legal and salutary, are broken up by brute
force or by municipal intolerance, They are punished for having
thought of defending themselves, and slaughtered because they try to
avoid assassination. - Three or four hundred gentlemen, who were
threatened on their estates, sought refuge with their families in
Caen;[18] and they trusted to find one there, for, by three
different resolutions, the municipal body promised them aid and
protection.
Pages:
748
749
750
751
752
753
754
755
756
757
758
759
760
761
762
763
764
765
766
767
768
769
770
771
772