Had the system of representation been then understood, as it now is, there is no reason to believe that those forms of government, now called monarchical or aristocratical, would ever have taken place.
Paine argues that if representation had been understood earlier, monarchical and aristocratical governments might never have emerged.
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A knowledge of the practice was then joined to the theory; and all that was wanting to give it real existence was opportunity.
The Parliaments on their part insisted that they had not only a right to remonstrate, but to reject; and on this ground they were always supported by the nation.
Man cannot, properly speaking, make circumstances for his purpose, but he always has it in his power to improve them when they occur, and this was the case in France.