Thomas Paine: “What is government more than the management of the affairs of a Nation?”

The thing, in many points, contained better principles than those upon which the Government had hitherto been administered; but with respect to the Cour Pleniere, it was no other than a medium through which despotism was to pass, without…

He pities the plumage, but forgets the dying bird.

To account for this sudden transition, it is proper to observe that there are two distinct species of popularity; the one excited by merit, and the other by resentment.

It was Government dethroning Government; and the old one, by attempting to make a new one, made a chasm.