One must belong to the race of the invincible and the indomitable, to persevere now in the rugged path of renunciation and of duty.

An indescribable gangrene of material prosperity threatens to cause public honesty to degenerate into rottenness.

Oh! what happiness to be banished, to be disgraced, to be ruined,--is it not, brave workmen?
Is it not, worthy peasants, driven from France, who have no roof to shelter you, and no shoes to your feet?
What happiness to eat black bread, to lie on a mattress thrown on the ground, to be out at elbows, to be away from all this, and to those who say to you: "You are French!" to answer, "I am proscribed!" What a pitiful thing is this delight of self-interest and cupidity, wallowing in the slough of the 2nd of December! Faith! let us live, let us go into business, let us speculate in zinc and railway shares, let us make money; it is degrading but it is an excellent thing; a scruple less, a louis more; let us sell our whole soul at that rate.

One runs to and fro, one rushes about, one cools his heels in anterooms, one drinks deep of every kind of shame, and if one cannot get a concession of railways in France or of lands in Africa, one asks for an office.

A host of intrepid devotions besiege the Elysee, and collect about the man.