7316. REPUBLIC (French), America and.—
I look with great anxiety for the firm
establishment of the new government in
France, being perfectly convinced that if it
takes place there, it will spread sooner or
later all over Europe. On the contrary, a
check there would retard the revival of liberty
in other countries. I consider the establishment
and success of their government
as necessary to stay up our own, and to prevent
it from falling back to that kind of halfway
house, the English constitution.—
To George Mason. Washington ed. iii, 209.
Ford ed., v, 274.
(Pa.,
Feb. 1791)
