The stamped papers of the magistrates, the desks of the registrars, the cartridge-boxes of the soldiers, the prayers of the priests, are his accomplices.

He has cast his crime about him like a network, and prefects, mayors, judges, officers, and soldiers are caught therein.

Complicity descends from the general to the corporal, and ascends from the corporal to the president.

The _sergent-de-ville_ and the minister feel that they are equally implicated.

The gendarme whose pistol has pressed against the ear of some unfortunate, and whose uniform has been splashed with human brains, feels as guilty as his colonel.