Persuaded that the present state of things could not last, they doubted, and they feared for the future.
In total opposition to this sentiment was that of the public.

There seems to be something infectious in the example of a powerful and enlightened nation verging towards democracy, which imposes on the human mind, and leads human reason in fetters.

Novelties, introduced by such a nation, are stripped of the objections which had been preconceived against them; and long settled opinions yield to the overwhelming weight of such dazzling authority.

It wears the semblance of being the sense of mankind, breaking loose from the shackles which had been imposed by artifice, and asserting the freedom, and the dignity, of his nature.
The constitution of France, therefore, was generally received with unqualified plaudits.

The establishment of a legislature consisting of a single body, was defended not only as being adapted to the particular situation of that country, but as being right in itself.
Certain anonymous writers, who supported the theory of a balanced government, were branded as the advocates of royalty, and of aristocracy.