It was to them a great mystery--a superhuman enjoyment.

They ranted about liberty and patriotism, from the same cause which leads monks to talk more ardently than other men about love and women.

A wise man values political liberty, because it secures the persons and the possessions of citizens; because it tends to prevent the extravagance of rulers, and the corruption of judges; because it gives birth to useful sciences and elegant arts; because it excites the industry and increases the comforts of all classes of society.

These theorists imagined that it possessed something eternally and intrinsically good, distinct from the blessings which it generally produced.

They considered it not as a means but as an end; an end to be attained at any cost.