..
changer les hommes, changer les choses, changer ses mots, ... tout
detruire; oui, tout detruire; puisque tout est a recreer_."--This
gentleman was chosen president in an assembly not sitting at
_Quinze-Vingt_ or the _Petites Maisons_, and composed of persons giving
themselves out to be rational beings; but neither his ideas, language,
or conduct differ in the smallest degree from the discourses, opinions,
and actions of those, within and without the Assembly, who direct the
operations of the machine now at work in France.
[121] The Assembly, in executing the plan of their committee, made some
alterations. They have struck out one stage in these gradations; this
removes a part of the objection; but the main objection, namely, that in
their scheme the first constituent voter has no connection with the
representative legislator, remains in all its force. There are other
alterations, some possibly for the better, some certainly for the worse:
but to the author the merit or demerit of these smaller alterations
appears to be of no moment, where the scheme itself is fundamentally
vicious and absurd.
[122] "Non, ut olim, universae legiones deducebantur, cum tribunis, et
centurionibus, et sui cujusque ordinis militibus, ut consensu et
caritate rempublicam efficerent; sed ignoti inter se, diversis
manipulis, sine rectore, sine affectibus mutuis, quasi ex alio genere
mortalium repente in unum collecti, numerus magis quam colonia.
Pages:
625
626
627
628
629
630
631
632
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649