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7541. REVOLUTION (French), Reform and.—

If the people do not obtain now so
much as they have a right to, they will in the
long run. The misfortune is that they are not
yet ripe for receiving the blessings to which
they are entitled. I doubt, for instance,
whether the body of the nation, if they could be
consulted, would accept of a habeas corpus law, if offered them by the King.—
To James Madison. Washington ed. ii, 506. Ford ed., v, 53.
(P. Nov. 1788)