Whence does this hope arise? What
public voice is there in France? There are, indeed, some writers, who,
since this monster of a Directory has obtained a great, regular,
military force to guard them, are indulged in a sufficient liberty of
writing; and some of them write well, undoubtedly. But the world knows
that in France there is no public,--that the country is composed but of
two descriptions, audacious tyrants and trembling slaves. The contests
between the tyrants is the only vital principle that can be discerned in
France. The only thing which there appears like spirit is amongst their
late associates, and fastest friends of the Directory,--the more furious
and untamable part of the Jacobins. This discontented member of the
faction does almost balance the reigning divisions, and it threatens
every moment to predominate. For the present, however, the dread of
their fury forms some sort of security to their fellows, who now
exercise a more regular and therefore a somewhat less ferocious tyranny.
Most of the slaves choose a quiet, however reluctant, submission to
those who are somewhat satiated with blood, and who, like wolves, are a
little more tame from being a little less hungry, in preference to an
irruption of the famished devourers who are prowling and howling about
the fold.
This circumstance assures some degree of permanence to the power of
those whom we know to be permanently our rancorous and implacable
enemies.
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