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3177. FRANCE, Self-Government in.—

What government France can bear, depends
not on the state of science, however exalted,
in a select band of enlightened men, but on
the condition of the general mind. * * * The last change of government was fortunate.
inasmuch as the new will be less obstructive
to the effects of that advancement.—
To Marquis Lafayette. Washington ed. vii, 66. Ford ed., x, 82.
(M. 1817)