If, as Pascal,
[Footnote: The saying of Pascal's alluded to is in the _Pensees_, Art.
xi. No. 10: "A mesure qu'on a plus d'esprit on trouve qu'il y a plus
d'hommes originaux. Les gens du commun ne trouvent pas de difference
entre les hommes."] I think, says, the more one develops, the more
difference one observes between man and man, then we cannot say that the
democratic instinct tends to mental development, since it tends to make
a man believe that the pretensions have only to be the same to make the
merits equal also.
March 20, 1865.--I have just heard of fresh cases of insubordination
among the students. Our youth become less and less docile, and seem to
take for their motto, "Our master is our enemy." The boy insists upon
having the privileges of the young man, and the young man tries to keep
those of the _gamin_. At bottom all this is the natural consequence of
our system of leveling democracy. As soon as difference of quality is,
in politics, officially equal to zero, the authority of age, of
knowledge, and of function disappears.
The only counterpoise of pure equality is military discipline. In
military uniform, in the police court, in prison, or on the execution
ground, there is no reply possible. But is it not curious that the
_regime_ of individual right should lead to nothing but respect for
brute strength? Jacobinism brings with it Caesarism; the rule of the
tongue leads to the rule of the sword.
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