The Ruins Part 9

No, replied the group; you are the people; we are a privileged cla.s.s, who have our laws, customs, and rights, peculiar to ourselves.

PEOPLE.--And what labor do you perform in our society?

PRIVILEGED CLa.s.s.--None; we are not made to work.

PEOPLE.--How, then, have you acquired these riches?

PRIVILEGED CLa.s.s.--By taking the pains to govern you.

PEOPLE.--What! is this what you call governing? We toil and you enjoy!

we produce and you dissipate! Wealth proceeds from us, and you absorb it. Privileged men! cla.s.s who are not the people; form a nation apart, and govern yourselves.*

* This dialogue between the people and the indolent cla.s.ses, is applicable to every society; it contains the seeds of all the political vices and disorders that prevail, and which may thus be defined: Men who do nothing, and who devour the substance of others; and men who arrogate to themselves particular rights and exclusive privileges of wealth and indolence. Compare the Mamlouks of Egypt, the n.o.bility of Europe, the Nairs of India, the Emirs of Arabia, the patricians of Rome, the Christian clergy, the Imans, the Bramins, the Bonzes, the Lamas, etc., etc., and you will find in all the same characteristic feature:--Men living in idleness at the expense of those who labor.

Then the little group, deliberating on this new state of things, some of the most honorable among them said: We must join the people and partake of their labors and burdens, for they are men like us, and our riches come from them; but others arrogantly exclaimed: It would be a shame, an infamy, for us to mingle with the crowd; they are born to serve us.

Are we not men of another race--the n.o.ble and pure descendants of the conquerors of this empire? This mult.i.tude must be reminded of our rights and its own origin.

THE n.o.bLES.--People! know you not that our ancestors conquered this land, and that your race was spared only on condition of serving us?

This is our social compact! this the government const.i.tuted by custom and prescribed by time.

PEOPLE.--O conquerors, pure of blood! show us your genealogies! we shall then see if what in an individual is robbery and plunder, can be virtuous in a nation.

And forthwith, voices were heard in every quarter calling out the n.o.bles by their names; and relating their origin and parentage, they told how the grandfather, great-grandfather, or even father, born traders and mechanics, after acquiring wealth in every way, had purchased their n.o.bility for money: so that but very few families were really of the original stock. See, said these voices, see these purse-proud commoners who deny their parents! see these plebian recruits who look upon themselves as ill.u.s.trious veterans! and peals of laughter were heard.

And the civil governors said: these people are mild, and naturally servile; speak to them of the king and of the law, and they will return to their duty. People! the king wills, the sovereign ordains!

PEOPLE.--The king can will nothing but the good of the people; the sovereign can only ordain according to law.

CIVIL GOVERNORS.--The law commands you to be submissive.

PEOPLE.--The law is the general will; and we will a new order of things.

CIVIL GOVERNORS.--You are then a rebel people.

PEOPLE.--A nation cannot revolt; tyrants only are rebels.

CIVIL GOVERNORS.--The king is on our side; he commands you to submit.

PEOPLE.--Kings are inseparable from their nations. Our king cannot be with you; you possess only his phantom.

And the military governors came forward. The people are timorous, said they; we must threaten them; they will submit only to force. Soldiers, chastise this insolent mult.i.tude.

PEOPLE.--Soldiers, you are of our blood! Will you strike your brothers, your relatives? If the people perish who will nourish the army?

And the soldiers, grounding their arms, said to the chiefs:

We are likewise the people; show us the enemy!

Then the ecclesiastical governors said: There is but one resource left.

The people are superst.i.tious; we must frighten them with the names of G.o.d and religion.

Our dear brethren! our children! G.o.d has ordained us to govern you.

PEOPLE.--Show us your credentials from G.o.d!

PRIESTS.--You must have faith; reason leads astray.

PEOPLE.--Do you govern without reason?

PRIESTS.--G.o.d commands peace! Religion prescribes obedience.

PEOPLE.--Peace supposes justice. Obedience implies conviction of a duty.

PRIESTS.--Suffering is the business of this world.

PEOPLE.--Show us the example.

PRIESTS.--Would you live without G.o.ds or kings?

PEOPLE.--We would live without oppressors.

PRIESTS.--You must have mediators, intercessors.

PEOPLE.--Mediators with G.o.d and with the king! courtiers and priests, your services are too expensive: we will henceforth manage our own affairs.

And the little group said: We are lost! the mult.i.tude are enlightened.

And the people answered: You are safe; since we are enlightened we will commit no violence; we only claim our rights. We feel resentments, but we will forget them. We were slaves, we might command; but we only wish to be free, and liberty is but justice.

CHAPTER XVI.

A FREE AND LEGISLATIVE PEOPLE.

Considering that all public power was now suspended, and that the habitual restraint of the people had suddenly ceased, I shuddered with the apprehension that they would fall into the dissolution of anarchy.

But, taking their affairs into immediate deliberation, they said:

It is not enough that we have freed ourselves from tyrants and parasites; we must prevent their return. We are men, and experience has abundantly taught us that every man is fond of power, and wishes to enjoy it at the expense of others. It is necessary, then, to guard against a propensity which is the source of discord; we must establish certain rules of duty and of right. But the knowledge of our rights, and the estimation of our duties, are so abstract and difficult as to require all the time and all the faculties of a man. Occupied in our own affairs, we have not leisure for these studies; nor can we exercise these functions in our own persons. Let us choose, then, among ourselves, such persons as are capable of this employment. To them we will delegate our powers to inst.i.tute our government and laws. They shall be the representatives of our wills and of our interests. And in order to attain the fairest representation possible of our wills and our interests, let it be numerous, and composed of men resembling ourselves.

Having made the election of a numerous body of delegates, the people thus addressed them:

We have hitherto lived in a society formed by chance, without fixed agreements, without free conventions, without a stipulation of rights, without reciprocal engagements,--and a mult.i.tude of disorders and evils have arisen from this precarious state. We are now determined on forming a regular compact; and we have chosen you to adjust the articles.

Examine, then, with care what ought to be its basis and its conditions; consider what is the end and the principles of every a.s.sociation; recognize the rights which every member brings, the powers which he delegates, and those which he reserves to himself. Point out to us the rules of conduct--the basis of just and equitable laws. Prepare for us a new system of government; for we realize that the one which has. .h.i.therto guided us is corrupt. Our fathers have wandered in the paths of ignorance, and habit has taught us to follow in their footsteps.

Everything has been done by fraud, violence, and delusion; and the true laws of morality and reason are still obscure. Clear up, then, their chaos; trace out their connection; publish their code, and we will adopt it.

And the people raised a large throne, in the form of a pyramid, and seating on it the men they had chosen, said to them: