Hence the political debates of a democratic people, however small it may be, have a degree of breadth which frequently renders them attractive to mankind.

All men are interested by them, because they treat of man, who is everywhere the same.

Amongst the greatest aristocratic nations, on the contrary, the most general questions are almost always argued on some special grounds derived from the practice of a particular time, or the rights of a particular class; which interest that class alone, or at most the people amongst whom that class happens to exist.

It is owing to this, as much as to the greatness of the French people, and the favorable disposition of the nations who listen to them, that the great effect which the French political debates sometimes produce in the world, must be attributed.

The orators of France frequently speak to mankind, even when they are addressing their countrymen only.
Section 2: Influence of Democracy on the Feelings of Americans.