SAT English Practice Question

Edmund Burke was a British politician and scholar. In 1789,.the French formed a new governmental body known as the.National Assembly, ushering in the tumultuous period of.political and social change known as the French Revolution..To make a government requires no great.prudence. Settle the seat of power, teach obedience,.and the work is done. To give freedom is still more.easy. It is not necessary to guide; it only requires to.let go the rein. But to form a free government, that is,.to temper together these opposite elements of liberty.and restraint in one consistent work, requires much.thought, deep reflection, a sagacious, powerful, and.combining mind. This I do not find in those who.take the lead in the National Assembly. Perhaps they.are not so miserably deficient as they appear. I rather.believe it. It would put them below the common level.of human understanding. But when the leaders.choose to make themselves bidders at an auction of.popularity, their talents, in the construction of the.state, will be of no service. They will become.flatterers instead of legislators, the instruments, not.the guides, of the people. If any of them should.happen to propose a scheme of liberty, soberly.limited and defined with proper qualifications, he.will be immediately outbid by his competitors who.will produce something more splendidly popular..Suspicions will be raised of his fidelity to his cause..Moderation will be stigmatized as the virtue of.cowards, and compromise as the prudence of.traitors, until, in hopes of preserving the credit which.may enable him to temper and moderate, on some.occasions, the popular leader is obliged to become.active in propagating doctrines and establishing.powers that will afterwards defeat any sober purpose.at which he ultimately might have aimed..But am I so unreasonable as to see nothing at all.that deserves commendation in the indefatigable.labors of this Assembly? I do not deny that, among.an infinite number of acts of violence and folly, some.good may have been done. They who destroy.everything certainly will remove some grievance..They who make everything new have a chance that.they may establish something beneficial. To give.them credit for what they have done in virtue of the.authority they have usurped, or which can excuse.them in the crimes by which that authority has been.acquired, it must appear that the same things could.not have been accomplished without producing such.a revolution. Most assuredly they might....Some.usages have been abolished on just grounds, but.they were such that if they had stood as they were to.all eternity, they would little detract from the.happiness and prosperity of any state. The.improvements of the National Assembly are.superficial, their errors fundamental..Whatever they are, I wish my countrymen rather.to recommend to our neighbors the example of the.British constitution than to take models from them.for the improvement of our own. In the former, they.have got an invaluable treasure. They are not, I think,.without some causes of apprehension and complaint,.but these they do not owe to their constitution but to.their own conduct. I think our happy situation owing.to our constitution, but owing to the whole of it, and.not to any part singly, owing in a great measure to.what we have left standing in our several reviews and.reformations as well as to what we have altered or.superadded. Our people will find employment.enough for a truly patriotic, free, and independent.spirit in guarding what they possess from violation. I.would not exclude alteration neither, but even when.I changed, it should be to preserve. I should be led to.my remedy by a great grievance. In what I did, I.should follow the example of our ancestors. I would.make the reparation as nearly as possible in the style.of the building. A politic caution, a guarded.circumspection, a moral rather than a complexional.timidity were among the ruling principles of our.forefathers in their most decided conduct. Not being.illuminated with the light of which the gentlemen of.France tell us they have got so abundant a share, they.acted under a strong impression of the ignorance and.fallibility of mankind. He that had made them thus.fallible rewarded them for having in their conduct.attended to their nature. Let us imitate their caution.if we wish to deserve their fortune or to retain their.bequests. Let us add, if we please, but let us preserve.what they have left; and, standing on the firm ground.of the British constitution, let us be satisfied to.admire rather than attempt to follow in their.desperate flights the aeronauts of France. It can reasonably be inferred from the passage that Burke is particularly upset with the National Assembly’s decision to

1. A.limit the king’s power.
2. B.expand the size of the government.
3. C.seek the approval of the public.
4. D.ignore the advice of former leaders.