The 

 Human 

 Harvest 



Re^versed 



selection 



of the 



Reign of 



Terror 



[58] 



were continuously noble. All belonged to 

 the leisure class. All were held on the backs 

 of a third estate, men of weaker heredity, 

 beaten lower into the dust by the weight of 

 an ever-increasing body of nobility. The 

 blood of the strong rarely mingled with that 

 of the clown. The noblemen were brought 

 up in indolence and ineffectiveness. The 

 evils of dissipation wasted their individual 

 lives, while casting an ever-increasing burden 

 on the villager and on the " farmer who must 

 pay for all." 



Hence in France the burden of taxation led 

 to the Revolution and its Reign of Terror. 

 I need not go over the details of dissipation, 

 intrigue, extortion, and vengeance which 

 brought to sacrifice the "best that the na- 

 tion could bring." In spite of their lust and 

 cruelty, the victims of the Reign of Terror 

 were literally the best from the standpoint of 

 race development. Their weaknesses were 

 those of training in luxury and irresponsible 

 power. These effects were individual only ; 

 and their children were free-born, with the 

 capacity to grow up truly noble if removed 

 from the evil surroundings of the palace. 



