PREFACE. THE HE FRENCH REVOLUTION, owing to a vast concurrence of circumstances, excited a more universal interest, and produced more animated discussions, than any event. recorded in history. Those who are acquainted with the state of the world for ages know, that most revolutions have been effected by physical force. It is the province of force to repel, or subdue, or overawe, reason; but the French Revolution originated not in FORCE, but in OPINION, which, in a very short period, grasped the sword, and gave stability and continuity to itself by force-not continuity or stability as a new system of government, for nothing has been more unstable, but continuity and stability as a revolution. Never was any government so completely overturned in all its parts as that of France; and at the time VOL. I.. a |