l those
things in which society creates disparity, in order to be raised to the
level of that republican virtue which resides among those who have
retained a primitive simplicity by escaping the influence of
civilisation.

The form of government and the condition of society must always
correspond. Social equality is therefore a postulate of pure democracy.
It was necessary that it should exist if the Constitution was to stand,
and if the great ideal of popular enthusiasm was ever to be realised.
The Revolution had begun by altering the social condition of the
country; the correction of society by the State had already commenced.
It did not, therefore, seem impossible to continue it until the nation
should be completely remodelled in conformity with the new principles.
The system before which the ancient monarchy had fallen, which was so
fruitful of marvels, which was victorious over a more formidable
coalition than that which had humbled Lewis XIV., was deemed equal to
the task of completing the social changes which had been so extensively
begun, and of moulding France according to the new and simple pattern.
The equality which was essential to the existence of the new form of
government did not in fact exist. Privilege was abolished, but influence
remained. All the inequality founded on wealth, education, ability,
reputation, even on the virtues of a code different from that of
republican morality, presented obstacles to the establishment of the new
_regime_, and those who were thus distinguished were necessarily enemies
of the State. With perfect reason, all that rose above the common level,
or did not conform to the universal rule, was deemed treasonable. The
difference between the actual society and the ideal equality was so
great that it could be removed only by violence. The great mass of those
who perished were really, either by attachment or by their condition, in
antagonism with the State. They were condemned, not for particular
acts, but for their position, or for acts which denoted, not so much a
hostile design, as an incompatible habit. By the _loi des suspects_,
which was provoked by this conflict between the form of government and
the real state of the country, whole classes, rather than ill-disposed
individuals, were declared objects of alarm. Hence the proscription was
wholesale. Criminals were judged and executed in categories; and the
merits of individual cases were, therefore, of little account. For t