This Robespierre they tell us was a cruel tyrant, and now that he is put out of the way, all will go well in France.
Edmund Burke: “This Robespierre they tell us was a cruel tyrant, and now that he is put out of the way, all will go well in France.”
Editor's note · Context
Burke critiques the notion that the removal of a tyrant will resolve the issues in France, questioning the underlying problems.
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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…
If any of them should happen to propose a scheme of liberty soberly limited, and defined with proper qualifications, he will be immediately outbid by his competitors, who will produce something more splendidly popular.
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.
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.





