Edmund Burke: “We here see a scene of dark, mysterious contrivance: let us now see what is brought out in the face of open day.”

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.

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.

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.