not say without reason: "Ten years of a tyrant are less
destructive than a single night of anarchy."

Oh! if there were on earth men profound and bold! what elements for
grandeur and glory! But the hour of destiny has already come; the cry of
war strikes my ear; and the catastrophe begins. In vain the Sultan leads
forth his armies; his ignorant warriors are beaten and dispersed. In
vain he calls his subjects; their hearts are ice. Is it not written? say
they, what matters who is our master? We cannot lose by the change.

In vain the true believers invoke heaven and the prophet. The prophet is
dead; and heaven without pity answers:

Cease to invoke me. You have caused your own misfortunes; cure them
yourselves. Nature has established laws; your part is to obey them.
Observe, reason, and profit by experience. It is the folly of man which
ruins him; let his wisdom save him. The people are ignorant; let them
gain instruction. Their chiefs are wicked; let them correct and amend;
for such is Nature's decree. Since the evils of society spring from
cupidity and ignorance, men will never cease to be persecuted, till they
become enlightened and wise; till they practise justice, founded on a
knowledge of their relations and of the laws of their organization.*

* A singular moral phenomenon made its appearance in Europe
in the year 1788. A great nation, jealous of its liberty,
contracted a fondness for a nation the enemy of liberty; a
nation friendly to the arts, for a nation that detests them;
a mild and tolerant nation, for a persecuting and fanatic
one; a social and gay nation, for a nation whose
characteristics are gloom and misanthropy; in a word, the