[168] I consider that ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ may be said by all whose activity is not directed to practical ends: the artist, the metaphysician, the scientist _insofar as he finds satisfaction in the practice of science and not in its results_. Many will tell me that they and not the Christians are the true ‘clerks’, for the Christian accepts the ideas of justice and charity only for the sake of his salvation. No one will deny, however, that men, even Christians, exist, who accept this idea with no practical end in view. [169] Malebranche, _Méditations chrétiennes_ (ix, 19). [170] See Babeau, _Le village sous l’ancien régime_, iv, iii; L. Gregoire, _La Ligue en Bretagne_, chap, vi; Roupnel, _La Ville et la Campagne au xvii siècle_, i, 1. ‘The peasants,’ says M. Roumier, ‘were only really converted where it was to their interests to be so, and especially where the local landlords put their influence at the service of the new religion, and where the Catholic clergy had completely deserted the parishes. We must be careful not to consider as Protestants all the “rustics” who took part in pillaging the abbeys and castles during the civil war’ (_La Royaume de Catherine de Médicis_, tome ii, page 294). M. Romier quotes the remark of a contemporary: ‘The whole of the Low Countries scarcely knows what this new doctrine is.’ [171] ‘Le livre de raison de M. Nicolas Versoris’ (_Mémoires de la Société de l’Histoire de Paris_, tome xii). The author, avocat au Parlement de Paris, similarly gives two lines to events like the Connétable de Bourbon’s treachery, and the signing of the treaty of Madrid. The same attitude exists in the _Journal d’un Bourgeois de Paris_, 1515-1536; the public misfortunes sketched by the author leave him completely indifferent. He makes no comment on the disaster of Pavia. Apropos the treaty of Madrid, ‘it is to be noted,’ writes a contemporary, ‘that there were no bonfires or rejoicings when the news of the peace was published, because no one understood anything about it.’ (Lavisse, _Histoire de France_, v, 49.) Contemporaries mention the indifference of the people of Paris to the Peace of Westphalia, the battle of Rossbach, even the battles of Valmy and Navarino. ‘The affair at Valmy made very little stir at first.’ (Kellerman.) [172] Michelet relates that in his youth he questioned an old man on the impressions left upon him by 1793, and the only answer he got was: ‘It was the bad paper year.’ [173] Admire the profundity of Machiavelli, when he advises his Prince: ‘Above everything, avoid taking your subjects’ property; _for men will more easily forget the deaths of their fathers than the loss of their patrimony_.’ [174] Inserted in the collection of studies entitled ‘L’Allemagne et les Alliés devant la conscience chrétienne’. (Bloud et Gay, 1915.)