Since the ruin of St. Domingo and the pillaging of grocers' shops
colonial products are dear; the carpenter, the mason, the locksmith,
the market-porter, no longer has his early cup of coffee,[21] while
they grumble every morning at the thought of their patriotism being
rewarded by an increase of deprivation.
But more than all this they are now Jacobins, and after nearly three
years of preaching, the dogma of popular sovereignty has taken deep
root in their empty brains. "In these groups," writes a police
commissioner, "the Constitution is held to be useless and the people
alone are the law. The citizens of Paris on the public square think
themselves the people, populus, what we call the universality of
citizens."[22] -- It is of no use to tell them that, alongside of
Paris, there is a France. Danton has shown them that the capital " is
composed of citizens belonging one way or another to the eighty-three
departments; that is has a better chance than any other place to
appreciate ministerial conduct; that it is the first sentinel of the
nation," which makes them confident of being right.[23] -- It is of
no use to tell them that there are better-informed and more competent
authorities than themselves. Robespierre assures them that "in the
matter of genius and public-spiritedness the people are infallible,
whilst every one else is subject to mistakes,"[24] and here they are
sure of their capacity.
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