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Speaking about the measure of freedom enjoyed by the people in a republic or democracy, Tytler wrote, "The people flatter themselves that they have the sovereign power. They were perpetually divided into factions, which servilely ranked themselves under the banners of the contending demagogues and these maintained their influence over their partisans by the most shameful corruption and bribery, of which the means were supplied alone by the plunder of the public money". In discussing the Athenian democracy, after noting that a great number of the population were actually enslaved, he went on to say, "Nor were the superior classes in the actual enjoyment of a rational liberty and independence. He believed that "a pure democracy is a chimera", and that "All government is essentially of the nature of a monarchy". In his Lectures, Tytler displayed a cynical view of democracy in general and representative democracies such as republics in particular. Tytler said that translation should fully represent the 1) ideas and 2) style of the original and should 3) possess the ease of original composition. It has been argued in a 1975 book by Gan Kechao that Yan Fu's famous translator's dictum of fidelity, clarity and elegance came from Tytler. Tytler wrote a treatise that is important in the history of translation theory, the Essay on the Principles of Translation (London, 1791). Their son was Patrick Fraser Tytler, traveller and historian. In 1776 he married Ann Fraser of Balnain. The vault lies on the west side of the section known as the Covenanter's Prison which is generally closed to public view. He died at his townhouse on Princes Street in Edinburgh and was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard. Tytler was a friend of Robert Burns, and prevailed upon him to remove lines from his poem "Tam o' Shanter" which were insulting to the legal and clerical professions. Tytler's other positions included Senator of the College of Justice and George Commissioner of Justiciary in Scotland. In 1802 he became a Lord of Session in the Scottish Courts, with the judicial title Lord Woodhouselee.
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In 1790 he became Judge Advocate of Scotland. In 1780 he was appointed joint professor of Civil History at Edinburgh University. Tytler was born in Edinburgh, the eldest son of William Tytler of Woodhouselee (author of Inquiry into the Evidence against Mary Queen of Scots) and his wife, Ann Craig of Costerton. It may, indeed, be confidently asserted, that there never was that government called a republic, which was not ultimately ruled by a single will, and, therefore, (however bold may seem the paradox,) virtually and substantially a monarchy.Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee FRSE (15 October 1747 – 5 January 1813) was a Scottish advocate, judge, writer and historian who served as Professor of Universal History, and Greek and Roman Antiquities at the University of Edinburgh. It is not, perhaps, unreasonable to conclude, that a pure and perfect democracy is a thing not attainable by man, constituted as he is of contending elements of vice and virtue, and ever mainly influenced by the predominant principle of self-interest.
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From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefit from the public treasury, with the result that democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a dictatorship, and then a monarchy. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse out of the public treasure. Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government.These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years.