On the contrary, if, like our Jacobins, the State seeks to confiscate
every natural force to its own profit, it seeks to make affection for
itself paramount, if it strives to suppress all other passions and
interests, if it tolerates no other preoccupation than that which
concerns the common weal, if it tries to forcibly convert every member
of society into a Spartan or Jesuit, then, at enormous cost, will it
not only destroy private fountains, and spread devastation over the
entire territory, but it will destroy its own fountain-head. We honor
the State only for the services it renders to us, and proportionately
to these services and the security it affords us, and to the liberty
which it ensures us under the title of universal benefactor; when it
deliberately wounds us through our dearest interests and most tender
affections, when it goes so far as to attack our honor and conscience,
when it becomes the universal wrong-doer, our affection for it, in the
course of time, turns into hatred. Let this system be maintained, and
patriotism, exhausted, dries up, and, one by one, all other beneficent
springs, until, finally, nothing is visible over the whole country,
but stagnant pools or overwhelming torrents, inhabited by passive
subjects or depredators.
Pages:
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260