The Blood of the Nation 



ing an ever-increasing burden on the 

 villager and on the " farmer who must 

 pay for all." 



Hence in France the burden of tax- 

 ation led to the Revolution and its 

 Reign of Terror. I need not go over 

 the details of dissipation, intrigue, ex- 

 tortion, and vengeance which brought 

 to sacrifice the " best that the nation 

 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 ca- 

 pacity to grow up truly noble if re- 

 moved from the evil surroundings of 

 the palace. 



In Thackeray's "Chronicle of the 

 Drum," the old drummer, Pierre, tells 

 us that 



30 



