The only concern for the state is, that the capital taken in rent from the land should be returned again to the industry from whence it came, and that its expenditure should be with the least possible detriment to the morals of those who expend it and to those of the people to whom it is returned.
From his critique of the French Revolution, this outlines the state's responsibility regarding the circulation of capital and its moral impact.
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Rome, under her emperors, united the evils of both systems; and this unnatural combination was one great cause of her ruin.
The prattling about the rights of men will not be accepted in payment of a biscuit or a pound of gunpowder.
They will become flatterers instead of legislators,--the instruments, not the guides of the people.
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.
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