LXVI.

"The social revolution could end but in one great catastrophe, of
which the immediate effects would be--

"To make the land a barren waste:

"To put a strait jacket upon society:

"And, if it were possible that such a state of things could be
prolonged for several weeks--

"To cause three or four millions of human beings to perish by
horrible famine.

"When the Government shall be without resources, when the country
shall be without produce and without commerce:

"When starving Paris, blockaded by the departments, will no longer
discharge its debts and make payments, no longer export nor import:

"When workmen, demoralised by the politics taught at the clubs and
the closing of the workshops, will have found a means of living, no
matter how:

"When the State appropriates to itself the silver and ornaments of
the citizens for the purpose of sending them to the Mint:

"When perquisitions made in the private houses are the only means of
collecting taxes:

"When hungry bands spread over the country, committing robbery and
devastation:

"When the peasant, armed with loaded gun, has to neglect the
cultivation of his crops in order to protect them:

"When the first sheaf shall have been stolen, the first house
forced, the first church profaned, the first torch fired, the first
woman violated:

"When the first blood shall have been spilt:

"When the first head shall have fallen:

"When abomination and desolation shall have spread over all France--

"Oh! then you will know what we mean by a social revolution:

"A multitude let loose, arms in hand, mad with revenge and fury:

"Soldiers, pikes, empty homes, knives and crowbars:

"The city, silent and oppressed; the police in our very homes,
opinions suspected, words noted down, tears observed, sighs counted,
silence watched; spying and denunciations:

"Inexorable requisitions, forced and progressive loans, paper money
made worthless:

"Civil war, and the enemy on the frontiers:

"Pitiless proconsuls, a supreme committee, with hearts of stone--

"This would be the fruits of what they call democratic and social
revolution."

Who wrote this admirable page?--Proudhon.

O all-merciful Providence! Take pity on France, for she has come to
this.

LXVII.

A balloon! A balloon!