"Had the French improved their glorious opportunity to erect a free constitutional Monarchy on the ruins of arbitrary power and the Bastille, I should applaud their generous effort; but this total subversion of all rank, order, and government, could be productive only of a popular monster, which after devouring every thing else, must finally devour itself. I was once apprehensive that this monster would propagate some imps in our happy island, but they seem to have been crushed in the cradle, and I acknowledge with pleasure and pride the good sense of the English nation, who seem truly conscious of the blessings which they enjoy; and I am happy to find that the most respectable part of opposition has cordially joyned in the support of ‘things as they are’. Even this country has been somewhat tainted with the Democratical infection, the vigilance of Government has been exerted, the malecontents have been awed, the misguided have been undeceived, the feaver in the blood has gradually subsided, and I flatter myself that we have secured the tranquil enjoyment of obscure felicity, which we had been almost tempted to despise."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Politicians from EnglandHistorians from EnglandAcademics from EnglandNon-fiction authors from EnglandMonarchists
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Letter to Dorothea Gibbon (1 August 1792), quoted in The Letters of Edward Gibbon: Volume Three 1784–1794, Letters 619–878, ed. J. E. Norton (1956), pp. 265–266
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edward_Gibbon
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Edward Gibbon
1737 – 1794
englischer Historiker und Schriftsteller
111 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Edward Gibbon →
Related Quotes
"My own choice has indeed transported me into a foreign land, but I am truly attached from interest and inclination to…"
"Louis had given and suffered every thing. The cruelty of the French was aggravated by ingratitude, and a life of inno…"
"I cannot repress my indignation at the use of those foolish obsolete, odious, words Whig and Tory."
"Burke's book is a most admirable medication against the French disease, which has made too much progress even in this…"
"The primitive Church, which I have treated with some freedom, was itself at that time, an innovation, and I was attac…"
"Poor Burke is the most eloquent and rational madman that I ever knew. I love Fox's feelings, but I detest the politic…"
"[I]n this rage against slavery, in the numerous petitions against the Slave trade was there no leaven of new democrat…"
"I shuddered at Gray's motion, disliked the half-support of Fox, admired the firmness of Pitts declaration, and excuse…"
"[T]he last revolution of Paris appears to have convinced almost every body of the fatal consequences of Democratical …"
"My own contempt for the wild & mischievous system of Democracy will not suffer me to believe without positive proof t…"