rts at the point of the bayonet." In 1775, at the
coronation of the king, archbishop Lomenie of Brienne, a well-known
unbeliever, addresses the young king: "You will disapprove of the
culpable systems of toleration... Complete the work undertaken by Louis
the Great. To you is reserved the privilege of giving the final blow to
Calvinism in your kingdom." In 1780, the assembly of the clergy declares
"that the altar and the throne would equally be in danger if heresy
were allowed to throw off its shackles." Even in 1789, the clergy in its
registers, while consenting to the toleration of non-Catholics, finds
the edict of 1788 too liberal. They desire that non-Catholics should
be excluded from judicial offices, that they should never be allowed
to worship in public, and that mixed marriages should be forbidden. And
much more than this; they demand preliminary censure of all works sold
by the bookshops, an ecclesiastical committee to act as informers,
and ignominious punishment to be awarded to the authors of irreligious
books. Lastly they claim for their body the direction of public schools
and the oversight of private schools.--There is nothing strange in this
intolerance and selfishness. A collective body, as with an individual,
thinks of itself first of all and above all. If, now and then, it
sacrifices some one of its privileges it is for the purpose of securing
the alliance of some other body. In that case, which is that of England,
all these privileges, which compound with each other and afford each
other mutual support, form, through their combination, the public
liberties.--In this case, only one body being represented, its deputies
are neither directed nor tempted to make concession to others; the
interest of the body is their sole guide; they subordinate the common
interest to it and serve it at any cost, even to criminal attacks on the
public welfare.

III. Influence of the Nobles..

Regulations in their favor.--Preferment obtained by them in
the Church.--Distribution of bishoprics and abbeys.
--Preferment obtained from them from the State.--Governments,
offices, sinecures, pensions, gratuities.--Instead of being
useful they are an expense.

Thus do public bodies work when, instead of being associated together,
they are separate. The same spectacle is apparent on contemplating
castes and associations; their isolation is the cause of their egoism.
From the top to the bottom of the