Brissac, at first, answered his purposes perfectly well. The study of
Roman history had inspired this officer, who valued himself greatly upon
his penetration and judgment, with a very singular project, which was to
form France into a republic upon the model of ancient Rome, and make
Paris the capital of this new state. Had Brissac descended ever so little
from these lofty ideas to an attention to particular applications, which
in the greatest designs it is necessary to have some regard to, he would
have perceived that there are circumstances under which a scheme, however
happily imagined, may, by the nature of the obstacles which oppose it, by
the difference of the genius and character of the people, by the force of
those laws they have adopted, and by long custom, which, as it were,
stamps a seal upon them, become alike chimerical and impracticable. Time
only and long experience can bring remedies to defects in the customs of
a state whose form is already determined; and this ought always to be
attempted with a view to the plan of its original constitution: this is
so certain that, whenever we see a state conducted by measures contrary
to those made use of in its foundation, we may be assured a great
revolution is at hand; nor does the application of the best remedies
operate upon diseases that resist their force.
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