f mankind in their own country.[21]

Of general precepts he never tired; one series of them followed another.
To us many of them may seem commonplace; but we should reflect that the
election of representatives was an amazing novelty in France, and
Condorcet knew men well enough to be aware of the hazards of political
inexperience. Beware of choosing a clever knave, he said, because he
will follow his own interest and not yours; but at the same time beware
of choosing a man for no better reason than that he is honest, because
you need ability quite as much as you need probity. Do not choose a man
who has ever taken sides against the liberty of any portion of mankind;
nor one whose principles were never known until he found out that he
wanted your votes. Be careful not to mistake heat of head for heat of
soul; because what you want is not heat but force, not violence but
steadfastness. Be careful, too, to separate a man's actions from the
accidents of his life; for one may be the enemy or the victim of a
tyrant without being the friend of liberty. Do not be carried away by a
candidate's solicitations; but at the same time, make allowance for the
existing effervescence of spirits. Prefer those who have decided
opinions to those who are always inventing plans of conciliation; those
who are zealous for the rights of man to those who only profess pity for
the misfortunes of the people; those who speak of justice and reason, to
those who speak of political interests and of the prosperity of
commerce. Distrust those who appeal to sentiment in matters that can be
decided by reason; prefer light to eloquence; and pass over those who
declare themselves ready to die for liberty, in favour of those who know
in what liberty consists.[22]

In another piece he drew up a list of the rights which the nation had a
claim to have recognised, such as the right to make laws, to exact
responsibility from the ministers of the crown, to the protection of
personal liberty, and to the legal administration of justice by regular
judges. These rights he declared it to be the first duty of the Assembly
to draw up in a chart that should be the chief corner-stone of the new
constitution. Then he proceeded to define the various tasks to which he
conceived that the legislative body should forthwith apply itself; and
among them, be it said, is no mention of any of those projects of
confiscation which circumstances so speedily forced upon the Assembly
when