about conspiracies. One of
the most {244} noteworthy was the one that came to a head in the spring
of 1796, under the lead of Babeuf.

Babeuf was a revolutionist of extreme views, but views rather social
than political. His experience before the Revolution had been that of
a surveyor and land agent, and in this business he had apparently gone
below the surface and had thought over that great nexus of social,
political, and economic questions that centre on that of the
proprietorship of the soil. The Revolution turned him into a
collectivist, and with the Directoire in power, and a middle class
reaction in full swing, Babeuf began to be an influence. The
Revolution had so far produced popular leaders, but not popular leaders
who were of the people, and whose policy was for the people. Mirabeau
and Danton looked to the people, but only as opportunist statesmen.
Hebert had imitated the people, but for the sake of his own
advancement. Robespierre, more honestly, had attempted to be the
prophet of the people, but with him democracy was only the sickly
residue of Rousseau's _Contrat Social_, and when it came to measures,
to social legislation, he proved only a narrow bourgeois and lawyer.
And so it had been all the way through; the {245} people, the great
national battering-ram that Danton had guided, remained a mass without
expression. The people had never had leaders of their own, had never
had a policy save for their demand for a vote and for the blood of
their oppressors. And now here was a man of the people who had a
popular policy, who put his finger on the question that lay even deeper
than that of privilege, that of proprietorship.

Babeuf's doctrine was collectivist. Nature has given every man an
equal right to enjoy her benefits; it is the business of society to
maintain this equality; Nature imposes the obligation of labour, but
both labour and enjoyment must be in common; monopolizing benefits of
land or industry is a crime; there should be neither rich men nor poor;
nor should there be individual proprietorship of land,--the earth is no
man's property.

These doctrines were fervently accepted by a small group of devoted
followers; they were widely acquiesced in by Jacobin malcontents
seeking a convenient arm against the Government. Clubs were formed,
the _Cercle des Egaux_, the _Club du Pantheon_; propaganda was carried
on; conspiracy was evolved. Wholesale efforts were made to gain over
the polic