Underneath this theory we recognize the personal attitude, the grudge of the poor embittered commoner, who, on entering society, finds the places all taken, and who is incapable of creating one for himself; who, in his confessions, marks the day when he ceased to feel hungry; who, for lack of something better, lives in concubinage with a serving-woman and places his five children in an orphanage; who is in turn servant, clerk, vagabond, teacher and copyist, always on the look-out, using his wits to maintain his independence, disgusted with the contrast between what he is outwardly and what he feels himself inwardly, avoiding envy only by disparagement, and preserving in the folds of his heart an old grudge “against the rich and the fortunate in this world as if they were so at his expense, as if their assumed happiness had been an infringement on his happiness.” [39] —­ Not only is there injustice in the origin of property but again there is injustice in the power it secures to itself, the wrong increasing like a canker under the partiality of law.

“Are not all the advantages of society for the rich and for the powerful?[40] Do they not absorb to themselves all lucrative positions?  Is not the public authority wholly in their interest?  If a man of position robs his creditors or commits other offenses is he not certain of impunity?  Are not the blows he bestows, his violent assaults, the murders and the assassinations he is guilty of, matters that are hushed up and forgotten in a few months? —­ Let this same man be robbed and the entire police set to work, and woe to the poor innocents they suspect! —­ Has he to pass a dangerous place, escorts overrun the country.-If the axle of his coach breaks down everybody runs to help him. —­ Is a noise made at his gate, a word from him and all is silent. —­ Does the crowd annoy him, he makes a sign and order reigns. —­ Does a carter chance to cross his path, his attendants are ready to knock him down, while fifty honest pedestrians might be crushed rather than delaying a rascal in his carriage. —­ All these considerations do not cost him a penny.; they are a rich man’s entitlements and not the price for being rich. —­ What a different picture of the poor !  The more humanity owes them the more it refuses them.  All doors are closed to them even when they have the right to have them opened, and if they sometimes obtain justice they have more trouble than others in obtaining favors.  If there is statute labor to be carried out, a militia to raise, the poor are the most eligible.  It always bears burdens from which its wealthier neighbor with influence secures exemption.  At the least accident to a poor man everybody abandons him.  Let his cart topple over and I regard him as fortunate if he escapes the insults of the smart companions of a young duke passing by.  In a word all assistance free of charge is withheld from him in time of need, precisely because he cannot pay for it.  I regard him as a lost man if he is so unfortunate as to be honest and have a pretty daughter and a powerful neighbor. —­ Let us sum up in a few words the social pact of the two estates: