Part 1 (2/2)
”Oh, as humane as you please But this isn't a question of hua arentleer than Andre-Louis He was very soberly dressed in black, as became a seminarist, hite bands at wrists and throat and silver buckles to his shoes His neatly clubbed brown hair was innocent of powder
”You talk like a lawyer,” he exploded
”Naturally But don't waste anger on me on that account Tell me what you want me to do”
”I want you to come to M de Kercadiou with me, and to use your influence to obtain justice I suppose I a too much”
”My dear Philippe, I exist to serve you I warn you that it is a futile quest; but give me leave to finish my breakfast, and I aed armchair by the well-swept hearth, on which a piled-up fire of pine logs was burning cheerily And whilst he waited now he gave his friend the latest news of the events in Rennes Young, ardent, enthusiastic, and inspired by Utopian ideals, he passionately denounced the rebellious attitude of the privileged
Andre-Louis, already fully aware of the trend of feeling in the ranks of an order in whose deliberations he took part as the representative of a nobleman, was not at all surprised by what he heard M de Vil that his friend should apparently decline to share his own indignation
”Don't you see what it , are striking at the very foundations of the throne Don't they perceive that their very existence depends upon it; that if the throne falls over, it is they who stand nearest to it ill be crushed?
Don't they see that?”
”Evidently not They are just governing classes, and I never heard of governing classes that had eyes for anything but their own profit”
”That is our grievance That is e are going to change”
”You are going to abolish governing classes? An interesting experiinal plan of creation, and itto do,” said M de Vilovernment to other hands”
”And you think that will make a difference?”
”I knoill”
”Ah! I take it that being now in hty He will have confided to you His intention of changing the pattern of rew overcast ”You are profane, Andre,” he reproved his friend
”I assure you that I a short of divine intervention Youfriends of the Literary Chamber of Rennes, or any other learned society of France, devise a systeovernment that has never yet been tried? Surely not And can they say of any system tried that it proved other than a failure in the end? My dear Philippe, the future is to be read with certainty only in the past Ab actu ad posse valet consecutio Man never changes He is always greedy, always acquisitive, always vile I a of Man in the bulk”
”Do you pretend that it is impossible to aed him
”When you say the people you mean, of course, the populace Will you abolish it? That is the only way to a as it reue, of course, for the side that employs you That is natural, I suppose” M de Vilnation
”On the contrary, I seek to argue with absolute detachovernment do you aspire? A republic, it is to be inferred from what you have said Well, you have it already France in reality is a republic to-day”
Philippe stared at hi?”
”The King? All the world knows there has been no king in France since Louis XIV There is an obese gentleman at Versailles ears the crown, but the very news you bring shows for how little he really counts It is the nobles and clergy who sit in the high places, with the people of France harnessed under their feet, who are the real rulers