He leads them to peace
or war. He is the great theme of the republican faction in England.
These ideas of M. Condorcet are the principles of those to whom kings
are to intrust their successors and the interests of their succession.
This man would be ready to plunge the poniard in the heart of his pupil,
or to whet the axe for his neck. Of all men, the most dangerous is a
warm, hot-headed, zealous atheist. This sort of man aims at dominion,
and his means are the words he always has in his mouth,--"_L'egalite
naturelle des hommes, et la souverainete du peuple_."
All former attempts, grounded on these rights of men, had proved
unfortunate. The success of this last makes a mighty difference in the
effect of the doctrine. Here is a principle of a nature to the multitude
the most seductive, always existing before their eyes _as a thing
feasible in practice_. After so many failures, such an enterprise,
previous to the French experiment, carried ruin to the contrivers, on
the face of it; and if any enthusiast was so wild as to wish to engage
in a scheme of that nature, it was not easy for him to find followers:
now there is a party almost in all countries, ready-made, animated with
success, with a sure ally in the very centre of Europe.
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