The sun., 1899-07-30

the ruin OF France and Of the Liberals them.
seIves. The chiefs OF the Left know It we'll
For them, this contest Ia simple ques.
tion OF power. H. which God forbid ths
bourgeoisie. under the banners OF thu
Opposition, should succeed In beating
down the social superiorltes aRa,ns,
which their vanity protests. this trtumrh
would be Immediately followed by combat
sustained by the bourgeolsie against the POO.
pie. which later would see in them sort Of no.
bility. rather mean. 1t is true. but OF which The
fortunes and the privileges would be to them
all the more odious that they felt them so much
the nearer themselves. In this combat -.
ciety do not say tho nation. would perish
again. because the trlumnh-always momcu.
tary-ot tho suffering masses i'm plies the great,
est disorders. This combat would be furiDua
without truce. for 1t would arise from the 4 ..
cord, instinctve or acquired. between tho elsr.
tors. or wnom the portion tho least enlightened
but the most numerous would get the better
Of their social superiors under system in
which sufrrages count and are not weighed
A little later. in the same book. we read:
Abolish the pecrage. all the wealthy classes
become privileged; instead OF a hundred priv.
ilegcd persons. you will have 10000 OF them.
and you will have enlarged the wound OF social
Inequalities. In fact. for the common pcor!s
the power of living without working constitutes
OF itself a privilege. In their eyes he who con.
sumes without producing is spoiler They
insist upon visible works and take no account
Of Intellectual productions. although thcss
most enrich them. Therefore. In multiplying
the irrltations. you extend the combat to all
points OF the social body instead Of restraining
IL within n narrow circle. When the attack
and the resistance arc general the ruin oia
country is imminent. There will always Re
fewer rich than poor; hence the victory will be
to the latter as soon as the contest becomes
a physical one"
In "Thc Village Cure" a woman. for love Of
whom man has committed murder and has
kept her secret. strives TO prove repentance by
reclaiming vast tract OF waste land around
her chateau. and by Offering employment and
encouragement to multitude OF her fellow be-
ings The portrait OF the heroine. Veronique
Ia one ofthe most rueful In Balzac' gallery. and
there is no more affecting incident than her
dcathbed confession. THE Peasants" Ia ons
OF the longest Of Balzac's COMPOSITIONS. and IL
should be, undoubtedly. ranked among the
finest. He had made a profound study OF tho
effects produced by the agrarian changes in
cident to the Revolution upon the agriculturists
In the provinces OF France most distant from
the capital. and in this novel he has woven out
OF these observations tho picture Of a subterra-
mean but ferocious social war organized against
n large landed proprietor by the earth
hunger OF the peasants on the ono
hand and the rapacty OF middle class
capitalists on the other. This story is no mere
romance. for 1t is at times transformed into
profound political treatise by the depth and
acumen Of the authors comments and sug-
gestons. He. himself. avows that the aim Of
this book was to enighten. not the Legislature
Of to-day. but the Legislature OF to- morrow. He
prophesicd that the peasant. that indefatiRa-
ble sarpcr. that rodent who suhdivides and par
GELS out the land and cuts an acre into hum
dred bits. that anti-social element created by
the Revoution." would. some day. absorb tho
bourgeoisie a. the bourgeoisie had devoured
the nobility.