Sober and well-behaved persons,
having prospered or maintained themselves under the ancient r?gime,
must naturally cherish respect for former institutions; they must
involuntarily retain a deep feeling of veneration for the King, and
especially for religion; they are devout Catholics, and therefore are
chagrined to see the churches shut up, worship prohibited and
ecclesiastics persecuted, and would again be glad to go to Mass, honor
Easter, and have an orthodox cur? who could administer to them
available sacraments, a baptism, an absolution, a marriage-rite, a
genuine extreme unction.[112] - Under all these headings, they have
made personal enemies of the rascals who hold office; on all these
grounds, they are struck down; what was once meritorious with them is
now disgraceful. Thus, the principal swath consists of the ?lite of
the people, selected from amongst the people itself; it is against the
"subordinate aristocracy," those most capable of doing and conducting
manual labor, the most creditable workmen, through their activity,
frugality and good habits, that the Revolution, in its rigor against
the inferior class, rages with the greatest fury.
VIII.
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