 A theme that is strongly present in all the articles of Le Républicain, including the ones attributed to Grouchy, is the threat to freedom constituted by any monarchy, no matter how well-intentioned the monarch is. In this, Grouchy and the other authors of the Républicain differ from republicans inspired by Montesquieu, such as Sieyès, who believed that the form of government was incidental to a republican constitution as long as the ruler always acted in the public interest. Grouchy and others disagreed on the grounds that the hereditary power granted to a monarch is always arbitrary, so that even if it is benign, it is not reliably so. It does not matter, says Paine, whether a monarch is “a fool a hypocrite or a tyrant”—what matters is that this individual has “absolute power” over everyone, including those who are not yet born (Condorcet and Paine 1792, p.5. A monarch who is well intentioned may change his attitude for personal reasons and become a tyrant, or he may die and leave the power in the hands of a tyrannical successor.