ghosts produced by his own intellectual device, the Jacobin will
always bow down to responses that he himself has provided, for, the
beings that he has created are more real in his eyes than living ones
and it is their suffrage on which he counts. Accordingly, viewing
things in the worst lights, he has nothing against him but the
momentary antipathy of a purblind generation. To offset this, he
enjoys the approval of humanity, self-obtained; that of a posterity
which his acts have regenerated; that of men who, thanks to him, who
are again become what they should never have ceased to be. Hence, far
from looking upon himself as an usurper or a tyrant, he considers
himself the natural mandatory of a veritable people, the authorized
executor of the common will. Marching along in the procession formed
for him by this imaginary crowd, sustained by millions of metaphysical
wills created by himself in his own image, he has their unanimous
assent, and, like a chorus of triumphant shouts, he will fill the
outward world with the inward echo of his own voice.

IV.

What the theory promises. - How it flatters wounded self-esteem. --
The ruling passion of the Jacobin. -- Apparent both in style and
conduct. -- He alone is virtuous in his own estimation, while his
adversaries are vile. -- They must accordingly be put out of the way.
-- Perfection of this character. -- Common sense and moral sense both
perverted.

'When an ideology attracts people, it is less due to its
sophistication than to the promises it holds out. It appeals more to
their desires than to their intelligence; for, if the heart sometimes
may be the dupe of the head, the latter is much more frequently the