coachman,” and then, “begrimed with dirt, with his stick in one hand and his hat, such as it is, in the other, he must salute, humbly and quickly, through the door of the close, gilded carriage, the counterfeit hierophant who is snoring on the wool of the flock the poor curate is feeding, and of which he merely leaves him the dung and the grease.”  The whole letter is one long cry of rage; it is rancor of this stamp which is to fashion Joseph Lebons and Fouchés. — In this situation and with these sentiments it is evident that the lower clergy will treat its chiefs as the provincial nobility treated theirs.[31] They will not select “for representatives those who swim in opulence and who have always regarded their sufferings with tranquility.”  The curates, on all sides “will confederate together” to send only curates to the States-General, and to exclude “not only canons, abbés, priors and other beneficiaries, but again the principal superiors, the heads of the hierarchy,” that is to say, the bishops.  In fact, in the States-General, out of three hundred clerical deputies we count two hundred and eight curates, and, like the provincial nobles, these bring along with them the distrust and the ill-will which they have so long entertained against their chiefs.  Events are soon to prove this.  If the first two orders are constrained to combine against the communes it is at the critical moment when the curates withdraw.  If the institution of an upper chamber is rejected it is owing to the commonalty of the gentry (la plèbe des gentilshommes) being unwilling to allow the great families a prerogative which they have abused.

V. The King’s Incompetence and Generosity.

The most privileged of all — Having monopolized all powers, he takes upon himself their functional activity — The burden of this task - He evades it or is incompetent — His conscience at ease — France is his property — How he abuses it — Royalty the center of abuses.

One privilege remains the most considerable of all, that of the king; for, in his staff of hereditary nobles he is the hereditary general.  His office, indeed, is not a sinecure, like their rank; but it involves quite as grave disadvantages and worse temptations.  Two things are pernicious to Man, the lack of occupation and the lack of restraint; neither inactivity nor omnipotence are in harmony with his nature.  The absolute prince who is all-powerful, like the listless aristocracy with nothing to do, in the end become useless and mischievous. — In grasping all powers the king insensibly took upon himself all functions; an immense undertaking and one surpassing human strength.  For it is the Monarchy, and not the Revolution, which endowed France with administrative centralization [32].  Three functionaries, one above the other, manage all public business under the direction of the king’s council; the comptroller-general at the center, the intendant in each generalship,[33] the sub-delegate