The moment that, erecting itself into a deliberate body, it shall act according to its own resolutions, the government, be it what it may, will immediately degenerate into a military democracy: a species of political monster which has always ended by devouring those who have produced it.
In his analysis of the French Revolution, Burke warns of the catastrophic consequences when a military assumes deliberative power.
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I think our happy situation owing to our Constitution,--but owing to the whole of it, and not to any part singly,--owing in a great measure to what we have left standing in our several reviews and reformations, as well as to what we have…
Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.
Not being illuminated with the light of which the gentlemen of France tell us they have got so abundant a share, they acted under a strong impression of the ignorance and fallibility of mankind.
The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.
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