Their grand object being now, as in his brother's time, at any rate to destroy the higher orders, they think he cannot compass this end, as certainly he cannot, without elevating the lower.
Edmund Burke
The Public Record
Edmund Burke was an Anglo-Irish writer, philosopher, and politician who is widely credited as the founder of the cultural and political philosophy of conservatism. Regarded as one of the most influential conservative thinkers and political writers of the 18th century, Burke spent the majority of his career in Great Britain and was elected as a member of Parliament (MP) from 1766 to 1794 in the House of Commons of Great Britain with the Whig Party. His writings played a significant role in influencing public views and opinions in both Great Britain and France following the French Revolution in 1789, and he remains a major figure in modern conservative circles.
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They would make him desirous of doing, in his own dominions, by a royal despotism, what has been done in France by a democratic.
They would persuade him to look on the National Assembly, not with the hatred of an enemy, but the jealousy of a rival.
It is to be hoped that the Emperor may be taught better things by this fatal example.
It was thus that the king of France (a perpetual example to all sovereigns) was ruined.
There is no cabal so obscure in any place, that they do not protect, cherish, foster, and endeavor to raise it into importance at home and abroad.
Here is a principle of a nature to the multitude the most seductive, always existing before their eyes as a thing feasible in practice.
Of all men, the most dangerous is a warm, hot-headed, zealous atheist.
This man would be ready to plunge the poniard in the heart of his pupil, or to whet the axe for his neck.
They are sworn enemies to kings, nobility, and priesthood.
But of late they are grown active, designing, turbulent, and seditious.
A predominant inclination towards it appears in all those who have no religion, when otherwise their disposition leads them to be advocates even for despotism.
This system, happening to be founded on principles the most delusive indeed, but the most flattering to the natural propensities of the unthinking multitude, and to the speculations of all those who think, without thinking very profoundly…
Thirdly, that, as long as it exists in France, it will be the interest of the managers there, and it is in the very essence of their plan, to disturb and distract all other governments, and their endless succession of restless politicians…
Secondly, that, the longer the present system exists, the greater will be its strength, the greater its power to destroy discontents at home, and to resist all foreign attempts in favor of these discontents.
First, that no counter revolution is to be expected in France from internal causes solely.
The very faults in the Constitution of Poland made it last; the veto which destroyed all its energy preserved its life.
Its very defects may tend to its stability, because they are agreeable to its nature.
It is not to be imagined, because a political system is, under certain aspects, very unwise in its contrivance, and very mischievous in its effects, that it therefore can have no long duration.
The moment they are seen to warp, they are reduced to nothing.
If ever any rebellion can arise against the present system, it must begin, where the Revolution which gave birth to it did, at the capital.
In my opinion, there never was seen so strong a government internally as that of the French municipalities.
Analogical reasoning from history or from recent experience in other places is wholly delusive.
One must not judge of the state of France by what has been observed elsewhere.
By this confinement of all communication to the ruling faction, any combination, grounded on the abuses and discontents in one, scarcely can reach the other.
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