thing but the Gazette de
France, for which, this period, a man of common sense would not give one
sol,. . . and the Courier de l'Europe a fortnight old; and well-dressed
people are now talking of the news of two or three weeks past, and
plainly by their discourse know nothing of what is passing. At Clermont
"I dined, or supped, five times at the table d'hote with from twenty to
thirty merchants, trade men, officers, etc., and it is not easy for
me to express the insignificance,--the inanity of their conversation.
Scarcely any politics are mentioned at a moment when every bosom
ought to beat with none but political sensations. The ignorance or the
stupidity of these people must be absolutely incredible; not a week
passes without their country abounding with events[1338] that are
analyzed an debated by the carpenters and blacksmiths of England." The
cause of this inertia is manifest; interrogated on their opinions, all
reply: "We are of the provinces and we must wait to know what is going
on in Paris." Never having acted, they do no know how to act. But,
thanks to this inertia, they let themselves be driven. The provinces
form an immense stagnant pond, which, by a terrible inundation, may be
emptied exclusively on one side, and suddenly; the fault lies with the
engineers who failed to provide it with either dikes or outlets.

Such is the languor or, rather, the prostration, into which local life
falls when the local chiefs deprive it of their presence, action or
sympathy. I find only three or four grand seigniors taking a part in it,
practical philanthropists following the example of English noblemen;
the Duc d'Harcourt, who settles the lawsuits of his peasants; the Duc
de Larochefoucauld-Liancourt who establishes a model farm on his domain,
and a school of industrial pursuits for the children of poor soldiers;
and the Comte de Brienne, whose thirty villages are to demand liberty
of the Convention.[1339] The rest, for the most part liberals, content
themselves with discussions on public affairs and on political economy.
In fact, the difference in manners, the separation of interests, the
remoteness of ideas are so great that contact between those most exempt
from haughtiness and their immediate tenantry is rare, and at long
intervals. Arthur Young, needing some information at the house of the
Duc de Larochefoucauld himself, the steward is sent for. "At an English
nobleman's, there would have been three or four farmers aske