re express an opinion
opposed to his. The French respect their king to such an extent that
they would not only sacrifice their property for him, but again their
souls." (Janssen, "L'Allemagne a la fin du moyen age. I. 484.)--As to
the passage of the monarchical to the democratic idea, we see it plainly
in the following quotations from Restif de la Bretonne: "I entertained
no doubt that the king could legally oblige any man to give me his wife
or his daughter, and everybody in my village (Sacy in Burgundy) thought
so too." ("Monsieur Nicolas," I., 443.)--In relation to the September
massacres: "No, I do not pity them, those fanatical priests... When a
community or its majority wants anything, it is right. The minority is
always culpable, even when right morally. Common sense is that is needed
to appreciate that truth. It is indisputable that the nation has the
power to sacrifice even an innocent person." ("Nuits de Paris," XVth,
p.377.)]

[Footnote 2319: "The Revolution," III., 393. (Laff. II. p. 291)]

[Footnote 2320: "Contrat Social," book 1st, ch. III.: "It is accordingly
essential that, for the enunciation of the general will, no special
organization should exist in the State, and that the opinion of each
citizen should accord with that. Such was the unique and sublime law of
the great Lycurgus."]

[Footnote 2321: "The Revolution," I., 170. (Laff. I. 433.)]

[Footnote 2322: Ibid., II., 93; III., 78-82. (Laff. I. p. 632 and II.
pp. 65-68.)]

[Footnote 2323: "Correspondance de Mirabeau et du Comte de la
Marck,"II., 74 (Letter of Mirabeau to the King, July 3, 1790): "Compare
the new state of things with the ancient regime.... One portion of
the acts of the national assembly (and that the largest) is evidently
favorable to monarchical government. Is it to have nothing, then, to
have no parliaments, no provincial governments, no privileged classes,
no clerical bodies, no nobility? The idea of forming one body
of citizens would have pleased Richelieu: this equalized surface
facilitates the exercise of power. Many years of absolute rule could
not have done so much for royal authority as this one year of
revolution."--Sainte-Beuve, "Port-Royal," V., 25 (M. Harlay conversing
with the superieure of Port-Royal): "People are constantly talking about
Port-Royal, about these Port-Royal gentlemen: the King dislikes whatever
excites talk. Only lately he caused M. Arnaud to be informed that he did
not approve of the meetings at