In the face of the actual state of things, let us no longer ask why our system of advanced training produces so few superior men, and let us deplore the mistake of the instructors of youth, who do not pay sufficient attention to moral culture—to the elevation and dignity of the feelings of man—to the enquiry whether the youth entrusted to their care has not been guilty of any of these stolen-marches upon justice which confuse the harmonious relations indispensable to the maintenance of all social order. For ourselves, conscious of the worth of a human soul, we weep over the unhappiness of France, which, year by year, is losing its vigour. I shall have to speak of the antagonism in society which results from male irresponsibleness. Let us follow, for a moment, those young men prepared for filling the part of public officials by acts of violence against the institution of the family, and which would deprive them of the rights of citizenship in a state of society sufficiently logical to regulate its morals by its principles. It is among these that we meet with those selfish and avaricious men who, having a host of ruinous wants, contract mercenary marriages. It is in their ranks that we include those intending husbands, dragged into marriage by their families, and by certain conveniences of position, which impose it upon them as a means of purgation; they have had pointed out to them a young lady disposed to place in their power a large fortune, attractions of person and heart by relatives who must decide about them. The marriage is, nevertheless, arranged without their being consulted; everything around them is going forward for the nuptials; nothing is wanting but their affection. Eventually the marriage takes place; they make as few and short calls as possible; in the midst of the heartiness of their family connexions, they alone remain abstracted, bored, awkward and unpolite, absorbed as they are in regrets for the seduction of the lower-class girl for which they had not to answer, and for the courtesan’s drawing-room. Restrained for a very short time by the life of the domestic circle, they are ill at ease while kept at a distance from their ideal, all the while looking forward to be released on the very first opportunity.[39]