persecuted in the name of the society they overset or reformed. When a
man is to be killed he is taxed with immorality. These tactics, familiar
in party warfare, are a disgrace to those who use them. Luther and
Calvin knew well what they were about when they shielded themselves
behind damaged worldly interests! And they lived all the days of their
life.

When depicting all society, sketching it in the immensity of its
turmoil, it happened--it could not but happen--that the picture
displayed more of evil than of good; that some part of the fresco
represented a guilty couple; and the critics at once raised a cry
of immorality, without pointing out the morality of another position
intended to be a perfect contrast. As the critic knew nothing of the
general plan I could forgive him, all the more because one can no more
hinder criticism than the use of eyes, tongues, and judgment. Also the
time for an impartial verdict is not yet come for me. And, after all,
the author who cannot make up his mind to face the fire of criticism
should no more think of writing than a traveler should start on his
journey counting on a perpetually clear sky. On this point it remains
to be said that the most conscientious moralists doubt greatly whether
society can show as many good actions as bad ones; and in the picture
I have painted of it there are more virtuous figures than reprehensible
ones. Blameworthy actions, faults and crimes, from the lightest to the
most atrocious, always meet with punishment, human or divine, signal or
secret. I have done better than the historian, for I am free. Cromwell
here on earth escaped all punishment but that inflicted by thoughtful
men. And on this point there have been divided schools. Bossuet even
showed some consideration for great regicide. William of Orange, the
usurper, Hugues Capet, another usurper, lived to old age with no more
qualms or fears than Henri IV. or Charles I. The lives of Catherine
II. and of Frederick of Prussia would be conclusive against any kind
of moral law, if they were judged by the twofold aspect of the morality
which guides ordinary mortals, and that which is in use by crowned
heads; for, as Napoleon said, for kings and statesmen there are the
lesser and the higher morality. My scenes of political life are founded
on this profound observation. It is not a law to history, as it is to
romance, to make for a beautiful ideal. History is, or ought to be, what
it was; while romance ou