ct of this dire fanaticism. A great multitude all over France is
in the same condition and the same temper.

[117] See the proceedings of the confederation at Nantes.

[118] "Si plures sunt ii quibus improbe datum est, quam illi quibus
injuste ademptum est, idcirco plus etiam valent? Non enim numero haec
judicantur, sed pondere. Quam autem habet aequitatem, ut agrum multis
annis, aut etiam saeculis ante possessum, qui nullum habuit habeat, qui
autem habuit amittat? Ac, propter hoc injuriae genus, Lacedaemonii
Lysandrum Ephorum expulerunt; Agin regem (quod nunquam antea apud eos
acciderat) necaverunt; exque eo tempore tantae discordiae secutae sunt, ut
et tyranni exsisterent, et optimates exterminarentur, et preclarissime
constituta respublica dilaberetur. Nec vero solum ipsa cecidit, sed
etiam reliquam Graeciam evertit contagionibus malorum, quae a Lacedaemoniis
profectae manarunt latius."--After speaking of the conduct of the model
of true patriots, Aratus of Sicyon, which was in a very different
spirit, he says,--"Sic par est agere cum civibus; non (ut bis jam
vidimus) hastam in foro ponere et bona civium voci subjicere praeconis.
At ille Graecus (id quod fuit sapientis et praestantis viri) omnibus
consulendum esse putavit: eaque est summa ratio et sapientia boni civis,
commoda civium non divellere, sed omnes eadem aequitate continere."--Cic.
Off. 1. 2.

[119] See two books entitled, "Einige Originalschriften des
Illuminatenordens,"--"System und Folgen des Illuminatenordens." Muenchen,
1787.

[120] A leading member of the Assembly, M. Rabaut de St. Etienne, has
expressed the principle of all their proceedings as clearly as possible;
nothing can be more simple:--"_Tous les etablissemens en France
couronnent le malheur du peuple: pour le rendre heureux, il faut le
renouveler, changer ses idees, changer ses loix, changer ses moeurs, ...
changer les hommes, changer les choses, changer ses mots, ... tout
detruire; oui, tout detruire; puisque tout est a recreer_."--This
gentleman was chosen president in an assembly not sitting at
_Quinze-Vingt_ or the _Petites Maisons_, and composed of persons giving
themselves out to be rational beings; but neither his ideas, language,
or conduct differ in the smallest degree from the discourses, opinions,
and actions of those, within and without the Assembly, who direct the
operations of the machine now at work in France.

[121] The Assembly, in executing the plan of their committee,