The things we do!

- Strictly speaking, with careful search,
there could undoubtedly be found in France, in 1789, five or six
hundred experienced men, such as the intendants and military
commanders of every province; next to these the prelates,
administrators of large dioceses the members of the local
"parlements," whose courts gave them influence, and who, besides
judicial functions, possessed a portion of administrative power; and
finally, the principal members of the Provincial Assemblies, all of
them influential and sensible people who had exercised control over
men and affairs, at once humane, liberal, moderate, and capable of
understanding the difficulty, as well as the necessity, of a great
reform; indeed, their correspondence, full of facts, stated with
precision and judgment, when compared with the doctrinaire rubbish
of the Assembly, presents the strongest possible contrast. - But
most of these lights remain under a bushel; only a few of them get
into the Assembly; these burn without illuminating, and are soon
extinguished in the tempest.


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