Page:A Vindication of Natural Society - Burke (1756).djvu/74

 they may differ in Name, or in some slight Circumstances, to be all alike in Effect; in Effect, to be all Tyrannies. But suppose we were inclined to make the most ample Concessions; let us concede Athens, Rome, Carthage, and two or three more of the antient, and many of the modern Commonwealths, to have been, or to be free and happy, and to owe their Freedom and Happiness to their Political Constitution. Yet allowing all this, what Defence does this make for Artificial Society in general, that these inconsiderable Spots of the Globe have for some short Space of Time stood as Exceptions to a Charge so general? But when we call these Governments free, or concede that their Citizens were happier than those which lived under different Forms, it is merely ex Abundantia. For we should be greatly mistaken, if we really thought that the Majority of the People which filled these Cities, enjoyed even that nominal Political Freedom of which I have spoken so much already.