The things we do!

-- Thus were the
materials of a good chamber ready at hand, and the only thing that
had to be done was to convene them. On having the facts presented
to them, its members would have passed without difficulty from a
hazardous theory to common-sense practice, and the aristocracy which
had enthusiastically given an impetus to reform in its saloons
would, in all probability, have carried it out effectively and with
moderation in the Parliament.
Unhappily, the Assembly is not providing a Constitution for
contemporary Frenchmen, but for abstract beings. Instead of seeing
classes in society one placed above the other, it simply sees
individuals in juxtaposition; its attention is not fixed on the
advantage of the nation, but on the imaginary rights of man. As all
men are equal, all must have an equal share in the government.
There must be no orders in a State, no avowed or concealed political
privileges, no constitutional complications or electoral
combinations by which an aristocracy, however liberal and capable,
may put its hands upon any portion of the public power.


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