“Evidently not. They are just governing classes, and I never heard of governing classes that had eyes for anything but their own profit.” “That is our grievance. That is what we are going to change.” “You are going to abolish governing classes? An interesting experiment. I believe it was the original plan of creation, and it might have succeeded but for Cain.” “What we are going to do,” said M. de Vilmorin, curbing his exasperation, “is to transfer the government to other hands.” “And you think that will make a difference?” “I know it will.” “Ah! I take it that being now in minor orders, you already possess the confidence of the Almighty. He will have confided to you His intention of changing the pattern of mankind.” M. de Vilmorin’s fine ascetic face grew overcast. “You are profane, Andre,” he reproved his friend. “I assure you that I am quite serious. To do what you imply would require nothing short of divine intervention. You must change man, not systems. Can you and our vapouring friends of the Literary Chamber of Rennes, or any other learned society of France, devise a system of government that has never yet been tried? Surely not. And can they say of any system tried that it proved other than a failure in the end? My dear Philippe, the future is to be read with certainty only in the past. Ab actu ad posse valet consecutio. Man never changes. He is always greedy, always acquisitive, always vile. I am speaking of Man in the bulk.” “Do you pretend that it is impossible to ameliorate the lot of the people?” M. de Vilmorin challenged him. “When you say the people you mean, of course, the populace. Will you abolish it? That is the only way to ameliorate its lot, for as long as it remains populace its lot will be damnation.” “You argue, of course, for the side that employs you. That is natural, I suppose.” M. de Vilmorin spoke between sorrow and indignation. “On the contrary, I seek to argue with absolute detachment. Let us test these ideas of yours. To what form of government do you aspire? A republic, it is to be inferred from what you have said. Well, you have it already. France in reality is a republic to-day.” Philippe stared at him. “You are being paradoxical, I think. What of the King?”