Note 120 — REFLECTIONS ON THE REVOLUTION IN FRANCE. (continued 4)
Reading edition
A leading member of the Assembly, M. Rabaut de St. Étienne, has expressed the principle of all their proceedings as clearly as possible; nothing can be more simple:—"Tous les établissemens en France couronnent le malheur du peuple: pour le rendre heureux, il faut le renouveler, changer ses idées, changer ses loix, changer ses mœurs, ... changer les hommes, changer les choses, changer ses mots, ... tout détruire; oui, tout détruire; puisque tout est à récréer."—This gentleman was chosen president in an assembly not sitting at Quinze-Vingt or the Petites Maisons, and composed of persons giving themselves out to be rational beings; but neither his ideas, language, or conduct differ in the smallest degree from the discourses, opinions, and actions of those, within and without the Assembly, who direct the operations of the machine now at work in France.