ubject by remarking on one of the most
vulgar and absurd sayings or dogmas that ever yet imposed itself upon
the world, which is, "_that a Republic is fit only for a small country,
and a Monarchy for a large one_." Ask those who say this their reasons
why it is so, and they can give none.

Let us then examine the case. If the quantity of knowledge in a
government ought to be proportioned to the extent of a country, and
the magnitude and variety of its affairs, it follows, as an undeniable
result, that this absurd dogma is false, and that the reverse of it is
true. As to what is called Monarchy, if it be adaptable to any country
it can only be so to a small one, whose concerns are few, little
complicated, and all within the comprehension of an individual. But when
we come to a country of large extent, vast population, and whose affairs
are great, numerous, and various, it is the representative republican
system only, that can collect into the government the quantity
of knowledge necessary to govern to the best national advantage.
Montesquieu, who was strongly inclined to republican government,
sheltered himself under this absurd dogma; for he had always the
Bastile before his eyes when he was speaking of Republics, and therefore
_pretended_ not to write for France. Condorcet governed himself by
the same caution, but it was caution only, for no sooner had he the
opportunity of speaking fully out than he did it. When I say this of
Condorcet, I know it as a fact. In a paper published in Paris, July,
1791, entitled, "_The Republican, or the Defender of Representative
Government?_" is a piece signed _Thomas Paine_.(1) That piece was
concerted between Condorcet and myself. I wrote the original in
English, and Condorcet translated it. The object of it was to expose the
absurdity and falsehood of the above mentioned dogma.

1 Chapter II. of this volume. See also my "Life of Paine,"
vol. i., p. 311.--Editor.

Having thus concisely glanced at the excellencies of the Constitution,
and the superiority of the representative system of government over
every other system, (if any other can be called a system,) I come to
speak of the circumstances that have intervened between the time the
Constitution was established and the event that took place on the 18th
of Fructidor of the present year.

Almost as suddenly as the morning light dissipates darkness, did the
establishment of the Constitution change the face of affairs in