Edmund Burke: “I doubt much, very much indeed, whether France is at all ripe for liberty on any standard.”

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.

Our people will find employment enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent spirit, in guarding what they possess from violation.

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.

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.