_Now_
this Government holds a man responsible for every thought that an
indiscreet or an incautious friend, or a concealed enemy, or a tool of
power reveals. If it succeeds in this attempt, it will not rest satisfied
with this victory over the remnant of our freedom. It is not in the
nature of things that it should. A Government that will not tolerate
censure must forbid discussion. You are now asked to put down writing.
When that has been done, conversation will be attacked. Paris will
resemble Rome under the successors of Augustus. Already this prosecution
has produced a _malaise_ which I never felt or observed before. What will
be the feelings of the nation when all that is around it is concealed,
when every avenue by which light could penetrate is stopped; when we are
exposed to all the undefined terrors and exaggerated dangers that
accompany utter darkness? The misfortune of France, a national defect
which makes the happiness enjoyed by England unattainable by us, is, that
she is always oscillating between extremes; that she is constantly
swinging from universal conquest to _la paix a tout prix_, from the
desire of nothing but glory to the desire of nothing but wealth, from the
wildest democracy to the most abject servility.
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