Page:Armatafragment00ersk.djvu/47

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¬man, however gifted or fortunate, is sure to pass away when it tramples upon the principles that gave it birth. — The successful invader, con- founding his free and fierce companions with the nation they had conquered, the oppressors soon became numbered with the oppressed, and after the reigns of but a few of his descendants, the successor to his arbitrary dominion was forced to submit to the establishment of free- dom demanded in arms by the conquerors and the conquered now forming an unanimous and indignant people. ¬" The extraordinary feature of this singular revolution was, that a nation in arms against its sovereign and reducing: him to terms of submis- sion, had the discretion to know exactly what to demand, and, by demanding nothing more, to se- cure the privileges it had obtained. — Thcordinary insurrections of mankind against oppression have generally been only convulsive paroxysms of tumult and disorder, more destructive than the tyranny overthrown, and often ending in worse; ¬d 3 because ¬