Such is the just and fatal effect of privileges turned to selfish purposes instead of being exercised for the advantage of others. To him who utters the word, "Sire or Seignior" stands for the protector who feeds, the ancient who leads."[1447] With such a title and for this purpose too much cannot be granted to him, for there is no more difficult or more exalted post. But he must fulfill its duties; otherwise in the day of peril he will be left to himself. Already, and long before the day arrives, his flock is no longer his own; if it marches onward it is through routine; it is simply a multitude of persons, but no longer an organized body. Whilst in Germany and in England the feudal régime, retained or transformed, still composes a living society, in France[1448] its mechanical framework encloses only so many human particles. We still find the material order, but we no longer find the moral order of things. A lingering, deep-seated revolution has destroyed the close hierarchical union of recognized supremacies and of voluntary deference. It is like an army in which the attitudes of chiefs and subordinates have disappeared; grades are indicated by uniforms only, but they have no hold on consciences. All that constitutes a well-founded army, the legitimate ascendancy of officers, the justified trust of soldiers, the daily interchange of mutual obligations, the conviction of each being useful to all, and that the chiefs are the most useful all, is missing. How could it be otherwise in an army whose staff-officers have no other occupation but to dine out, to display their epaulettes and to receive double pay? Long before the final crash France is in a state of dissolution, and she is in a state of dissolution because the privileged classes had forgotten their characters as public men. ***** NOTES: [Footnote 1401: "Rapport de l'agence du clergé," from 1775 to 1780, pp. 31-34.--Ibid. from 1780 to 1785, p. 237.] [Footnote 1402: Lanfrey, "L'Eglise et les philosophes," passim.] [Footnote 1403: Boiteau, "Etat de la France en 1789," pp. 205, 207.--D'Argenson "Mémoires," May 5, 1752, September 3, 22, 25, 1753; October 17, 1753, and October 26, 1775.--Prudhomme, "Résumé général des cahiers des Etats-Généraux," 1789, (Registers of the Clergy).--"Histoire des églises du désert," par Charles Coquerel, I. 151 and those following.] [Footnote 1404: De Ségur, "Mémoires," vol. I. pp. 16, 41.--De Bouillé, "Mémoires," p. 54.--Mme. Campan, "Mémoires," V. I. p. 237, proofs in detail.] [Footnote 1405: Somewhat like the socialist societies including the welfare states where a caste of public pensionaries, functionaries, civil servants and politicians weigh like a heavy burden on those who actually do the work.. (SR.)] [Footnote 1406: An antechamber in the palace of Versailles in which there was a round or bull's-eye window, where courtiers assembled to await the opening of the door into the king's apartment.--TR.]