Indeed, arbitrary power is so much to the depraved taste of the vulgar, of the vulgar of every description, that almost all the dissensions which lacerate the commonwealth are not concerning the manner in which it is to be exercised, but concerning the hands in which it is to be placed.
Burke critiques the public's preference for arbitrary power, regardless of who wields it.
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In some people I see great liberty, indeed; in many, if not in the most, an oppressive, degrading servitude.
The improvements of the National Assembly are superficial, their errors fundamental.
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.
The only difference among their financial factions is on the greater or the lesser quantity of assignats to be imposed on the public sufferance.
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