They are better off, better provided with
desirable comforts and conveniences, which is of itself an offense
against equality. Having accumulated a small hoard, a few pieces of
plate, sometimes a few crowns,[108] a store of linen and clothes, a
stock of provisions or goods, they do not willingly submit to being
plundered, which is the offense of egoism. Being egoists, it is
presumed that they are hostile to the system of fraternity, at least
indifferent to it, as well as lukewarm towards the Republic, that is
to say, Moderates, which is the worst offense of all.[109] Being the
foremost of their class, they are haughty like the nobles or the
bourgeois and regard themselves as superior to a poor man, to a
vagabond, to a genuine sans-culotte, the fourth and most inexcusable
of all offenses. Moreover, from the fact of their superior condition,
they have contracted familiarities and formed connections with the
proscribed class; the farmer, the intendant, the overseer is often
attached to his noble proprietor or patron;[110] many of the farmers,
shopkeepers and craftsmen belonging to old families are considered as
affiliated with the bourgeoisie or the clergy,[111] through a son or
brother who has risen a degree in trade, or by some industrial
pursuit, or who, having completed his studies, has become a cur? or
lawyer, or else through some daughter, or well-married sister, or
through one who has become a nun: now, this relation, ally, friend or
comrade of a "suspect " is himself a "suspect," - the last anti-
revolutionary and decisive barrier.
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