Of the two parties who joined in it Retz could only depend on the bourgeoisie of Paris.
The bourgeoisie sought the support of the clergy, and irreligion became as unfashionable among them as it had been among the nobility after 1793.
Many of its members were sons of the bourgeoisie, men who having been educated at college, thanks to some charitablt, agency, in the pride of learning, and raised above their original station, were ready for anything but had achieved nothing They bad plenty of talent at c0mmand, were full of classical tirades against tyranny, and, though sensitive enough in their private life, were bloodthirsty butchers in their public relations.
The only way to put an end to war is to overthrow the bourgeoisie.
The old municipal patriciate, which used to form the connecting link between the bourgeoisie and the nobility, had disappeared, and a feeling of common civic fellowship had taken its place.