Harold J. Laski: “How could it seek security where it defied the desires of the vast majority of its subjects?”

But we cannot understand the eighteenth century, or its theories, unless we realize that its temper was still dominantly aristocratic.

From no accusation were its statesmen more anxious to be free than from that of a belief in democratic government.

Even Lincoln supported his generals in completely indefensible attacks on civilian rights.

Wilkes was a sign that the populace was slowly awaking to a sense of its own power.