204 A TOUR fiOXTND MY GARDEN. 



■with some rich, insolent, ugly, stupid, avaricious man, to 

 whom everybody listens when it pleases him to utter a 

 stupidity; who is warmly welcomed in every house which 

 he honours with his presence, whose opinion is never contra- 

 dicted, except with the greatest caution, and all sorts of 

 excuses. Why, there is not even the pretence of avarice or 

 cupidity in the homages rendered to this man ; — he has been 

 tried, and every one knows nothing is to be hoped for from 

 him — he never gives away anything. No, it is his money, to 

 which he is a kind of saddle-bag, that they admire, that 

 they adore, and to which all these homages, or rather these 

 basenesses are offered up. 



We worship glory, particularly military glory, which con- 

 sists in killing without hating, without a motive, the greatest 

 possible number of men born under another sky, and that 

 under such singular conditions, that if to-morrow this country 

 yields, after having been sufficiently ravaged, it becomes 

 a crime punishable by law, by honour, and by universal con- 

 tempt, to kill a single one of its inhabitants whom it was 

 so glorious to massacre yesterday. 



Places ! You see people rich enough to live in abundance, 

 in quiet and even in enjoyment, eagerly seeking a sort of 

 domesticity, a certain rank, called place ; and believe them- 

 selves happy and indebted to heaven in fervent thanks, 

 if they are sufficiently favoured to succeed in obtaining one 

 of these places, which requires of them a compulsory costume, 

 a forced residence, necessary occupations, indispensable cares, 

 subjection at all hours, and an incessant responsibility in 

 exchange for sweet liberty ! 



Besides these you have titles ! The man who has obtained 

 a legal right to place three or four certain letters before 

 his name, instantly becomes a sort of idol which is adored, 

 and which ardently adores itself. 



And red ; the love of red, the adoration of red, the red 

 so much beloved by savages and children ; that gaudy colour 

 — what will a man not do to have the right of wearing in his 

 coat a piece of red ribbon; particularly if, after having for 

 some time tied it in a simple knot, the heads of the state 

 authorize him to wear it in the form of a rosette ! He feels 

 himself another man; he is a god, and believes in himself! 



