THE STUDY OF SOCIOLOGY. 



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antipathies produce, let us take a case showing how perverted may- 

 be the estimates of the relative gravities of evils, and the relative 

 degrees of blameworthiness of actions. 



Feudalism had decayed : its benefits had died out, and only its 

 evils had survived. While the dominant classes no longer performed 

 their functions, they continued their exactions and maintained their 

 privileges. Seignorial power was exercised solely for private benefit, 

 and at every step met the unprivileged with vexatious claims and 

 restrictions. The peasant was called from his heavily-burdened bit 

 of land to work gratis for a neighboring noble, who gave him no 

 protection in return. He had to bear uncomplainingly the devouring 

 of his crops by this man's game ; to hand him a toll before he could 

 cross the river ; to buy from him the liberty to sell at market nay, 

 such portion of grain as he reserved for his own use he could eat 

 only after paying for the grinding of it at his seigneur's mill, and for 

 having it baked at his bakehouse. And then, added to the seignorial 

 exactions, came the exactions of the Church, still more mercilessly 

 enforced. Along with all these local abuses and exasperating ob- 

 stacles to living, there had gone on at the governing centre mal- 

 administration, corruption, extravagance: treasures were spent in 

 building vast palaces, and enormous armies were sacrificed in inex- 

 cusable wars. Profuse expenditure, demanding more than could be 

 got from crippled industry, had caused a chronic deficit. New taxes 

 on the poor workers brought in no money, but only clamor and discon- 

 tent ; and to tax the rich idlers proved to be impracticable : the pro- 

 posal, that the clergy and noblesse should no longer be exempt from 

 burdens such as were borne by the people, brought from these classes 

 " a shriek of indignation and astonishment." And then, to make more 

 conspicuous the worthlessness of the governing agencies of all orders, 

 there was the corrupt life led by the court, from the king downward 

 France lying " with a harlot's foot on its neck." Passing over the 

 various phases of the break-up which ended this intolerable state 

 phases throughout which the dominant classes, good for nothing and 

 unrepentant, strove to recover their power, and, enlisting foreign rulers, 

 brought upon France invading armies we come presently to a time 

 when, in a storm of anger and fear, the people revenged themselves 

 on such of their past tormentors as remained among them. Leagued, 

 as many of these were, with those of their order who were levying 

 war against liberated France leagued, as many others were supposed 

 to be, with these enemies to the Republic at home and abroad incor- 

 rigible as they proved themselves by their plottings and treacheries ; 

 there at length came down upon them the September massacres and 

 the Reign of Terror, during which nearly 10,000 of those implicat- 

 ed, or supposed to be implicated, were killed or formally executed. 

 The Nemesis was sufficiently fearful. Lamentable sufferings and death 

 fell on innocent as well as guilty. Hate and despair combined to 



