icisms of the ministry,
and of the government, desirable changes and, therefore, the more
diffused." Sergeants like Hoche, and fencing-masters like Augereau,
certainly often read this news, carelessly left lying on the tables, and
commented on it during the evening in their soldier quarters. Discontent
is of ancient date, and already, at the end of the late reign, grievous
words are heard. At a banquet given by a prince of the blood,[5411] with
a table set for a hundred guests under an immense tent and served by
grenadiers, the odor these diffused upset the prince's delicate nose.
"These worthy fellows," said he, a little too loud, "smell strong of the
stocking." One of the grenadiers bluntly responded, "Because we haven't
got any," which "was followed by profound silence." During the ensuring
years irritation smolders and augments; the soldiers of Rochambeau have
fought side by side with the free militia of America, and they keep this
in mind. In 1788,[5412] Marshal de Vaux, previous to the insurrection
in Dauphiny, writes to minister that "it is impossible to rely on the
troops," while four months after the opening of the States-General
16,000 deserters roaming around Paris leads the revolts instead of
suppressing them.[5413]

II.

The social organization is dissolved.--No central rallying
point.--Inertia of the provinces.--Ascendancy of Paris.

Once this barrier has disappeared, no other embankment remains and the
inundation spreads all over France like over an immense plain.
With other nations in like circumstances, some obstacles have
been encountered; elevations have existed, centers of refuge, old
constructions in which, in the universal fright, a portion of the
population could find shelter. Here, the first crisis sweeps away all
that remains, each individual of the twenty-six scattered millions
standing alone by himself. The administrations of Richelieu and Louis
XIV. had been a long time at work insensibly destroying the natural
groupings which, when suddenly dissolved, unite and form over again of
their own accord. Except in Vendee, I find no place, nor any class, in
which a good many men, having confidence in a few men, are able, in the
hour of danger, to rally around these and form a compact body. Neither
provincial nor municipal patriotism any longer exists. The inferior
clergy are hostile to the prelates, the gentry of the province to the
nobility of the court, the vassal to the seignio