No matter how comprehensive this tyranny may have been, it affected only one class of men; the others, outside the net, remained free.

When it wounded all at once all sensitive chords, it did so only to a limited minority, unable to defend themselves.

As far as the majority, able to protect itself, their main sensibilities were respected, especially the most sensitive, this one or that one, as the case might be, now the conscience which binds man to his religion, now that amour-propre on which honor depends, and now the habits which make man cling to customs, hereditary usages and outward observances.

As far as the others were concerned, those which relate to property, personal welfare, and social position, it proceeded cautiously and with moderation.

In this way the discretion of the ruler lessened the resistance of the subject, and a daring enterprise, even mischievous, was not outrageous; it might be carried out; nothing was required but a force in hand equal to the resistance it provoked.
Again, and on the other hand, the tyrant possessed this force.