So far from this able disposition of some of the old republican legislators, which follows with a solicitous accuracy, the moral conditions and pro|pensities of men, they have levelled and crushed together all the orders which they found, even under the coarse unartificial arrangement of the monarchy, in which mode of government the classing of the citizens is not of so much im|portance as in a republic. It is true, however, that every such classification, if properly ordered, is good in all forms of government; and composes a strong barrier against the excesses of despotism, as well as it is the necessary means of giving effect and permanence to a republic. For want of some|thing of this kind, if the present project of a re|public should fail, all securities to a moderated freedom fail along with it; all the indirect re|straints which mitigate despotism are removed; insomuch that if monarchy should ever again ob|tain an entire ascendency in France, under this or under any other dynasty, it will probably be, if not voluntarily tempered at setting out, by the wise and virtuous counsels of the prince, the most completely arbitrary power that has ever appear|ed on earth. This is to play a most desperate game
Finding no sort of principle of coherence with each other in the nature and constitution of the several new republics of France, I considered what cement the legislators had provided for them from any extraneous materials. Their confederations, their spectacles, their civic feasts, and their enthu|siasm, I take no notice of; They are nothing but
