Edmund Burke: “The state of affairs abroad is not so much mended as to make me, for one, full of confidence.”

But when the leaders choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of popularity, their talents, in the construction of the state, will be of no service.

The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.

They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.

Let us imitate their caution, if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their bequests.