On
the other side, men still possessing common sense, and who have
profited somewhat by experience, who know what a government of clubs
and pikes leads to, who fear for themselves and are unwilling to begin
again, step by step, the mad course on which at each stage, they have
come near perishing.
On one side two members of the Directory, the minority of the
Ancients, the majority of the Five Hundred, and the vilest of the
Parisian rabble. On the other, the majority of the Ancients, the
minority of the Five Hundred and three members of the Directory, the
latter supported by their executive staff.[142] -
Which of the two troops will crush the other? Nobody knows; for most
of them are ready to pass from one to the other camp according as the
chances for success appear more or less great. And, from day to day,
any defection amongst the Five Hundred, amongst the Ancients or in the
Directory, foreseen or not, may change a minority into a majority.
Where will the majority be to-morrow? From which side is the next coup
d'?tat to come - Who will make it? Will it be the ultra Jacobins,
and, through another 9th of Thermidor, will they declare the mitigated
Jacobins "outlaws?" Will it be the mitigated Jacobins, and, through
another 18th of Fructidor, will they put the ultras under lock and
key? If one or the other of these blows is struck, will it succeed?
And if it succeeds will a stable government be at last established?
Si?y?s well knows that it will not; he is farseeing in his acts,
although chimerical in his theories.
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