They could not but perceive, that there must necessarily be a controlling power existing somewhere, and they placed this power in the discretion of the persons exercising the government, instead of placing it in a constitution formed by the nation.
In "Rights of Man," Paine critiques the error of placing ultimate controlling power in the government rather than in a constitution established by the nation.
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The object is not so much the produce of the tax as the justice of the measure.
They had a cause at stake, on which depended their freedom or their slavery.
Nothing can be more terrible to a Court or Courtier than the Revolution of France.