Some will tell you that this people is feminine in its
virtues, as well as in its vices, that the delicate nerves and fine
sensibility which cause it to excel in matters of taste and art also
make it susceptible to attacks of hysteria, but I am of opinion
that any people is manly only by accident, if by a man you mean a
reasonable creature--a flattering but baseless idea. Men only use
their reason from time to time, and are soon worn out by the effort of
thinking; so those do them a favour who act for them, encouraging them
in the direction of the least effort, and not much is required to hate
a new idea. Do not condemn them; the Friend of all who are persecuted
has said with His heroic indulgence: "They know not what they do."
An active nationalist newspaper was eager in stirring up the evil
instincts that lay below the surface. It lived on the exploitation of
hatred and suspicion, which it called "working for the regeneration
of France,"--France being reduced to this paper and its friends. It
published "Cleramboche," a collection of sanguinary articles, like
those which succeeded so well against Jaures; it roused people by
declaring that the traitor owed his safety to occult influences, and
that he would make his escape, if he were not carefully watched; and
finally it appealed to popular justice.
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