“The social revolution could end but in one great catastrophe, of
which the immediate effects would be—
“To make the land a barren waste:
“To put a strait jacket upon society:
“And, if it were possible that such a state of things could be
prolonged for several weeks—
“To cause three or four millions of human beings to perish by
horrible famine.
“When the Government shall be without resources, when the country
shall be without produce and without commerce:
“When starving Paris, blockaded by the departments, will no longer
discharge its debts and make payments, no longer export nor import:
“When workmen, demoralised by the politics taught at the clubs and
the closing of the workshops, will have found a means of living, no
matter how:
“When the State appropriates to itself the silver and ornaments of
the citizens for the purpose of sending them to the Mint:
“When perquisitions made in the private houses are the only means
of collecting taxes:
“When hungry bands spread over the country, committing robbery and
devastation:
“When the peasant, armed with loaded gun, has to neglect the
cultivation of his crops in order to protect them:
“When the first sheaf shall have been stolen, the first house
forced, the first church profaned, the first torch fired, the first
woman violated:
“When the first blood shall have been spilt:
“When the first head shall have fallen:
“When abomination and desolation shall have spread over all France—
“Oh! then you will know what we mean by a social revolution:
“A multitude let loose, arms in hand, mad with revenge and fury:
“Soldiers, pikes, empty homes, knives and crowbars:
“The city, silent and oppressed; the police in our very homes,
opinions suspected, words noted down, tears observed, sighs counted,
silence watched; spying and denunciations:
“Inexorable requisitions, forced and progressive loans, paper money
made worthless:
“Civil war, and the enemy on the frontiers:
“Pitiless proconsuls, a supreme committee, with hearts of stone—
“This would be the fruits of what they call democratic and social
revolution.”
Who wrote this admirable page?—Proudhon.
O all-merciful Providence! Take pity on France, for she has come to
this.