This man was composed of two very simple and two very good sentiments, comparatively; but he rendered them almost bad, by dint of exaggerating them,--respect for authority, hatred of rebellion; and in his eyes, murder, robbery, all crimes, are only forms of rebellion.
He enveloped in a blind and profound faith every one who had a function in the state, from the prime minister to the rural policeman.
He covered with scorn, aversion, and disgust every one who had once crossed the legal threshold of evil. He was absolute, and admitted no exceptions.
On the one hand, he said, "The functionary can make no mistake; the magistrate is never the wrong."
On the other hand, he said, "These men are irremediably lost.
Nothing good can come from them."
He fully shared the opinion of those extreme minds which attribute to human law I know not what power of making, or, if the reader will have it so, of authenticating, demons, and who place a Styx at the base of society.