14 INTRODUCTION. 



people could never attain. Among the oligarchies of the 

 old world this sentiment still prevails to a great extent. 

 This gave rise to a large, idle and extravagant class of 

 nobility that, in time, became so numerous, so profligate 

 in their expenditures, immoral in their social relations and 

 corrupt in the administration of justice, that the people 

 rose up against those abuses, and, in many instances, de- 

 posed the king, slew the nobility, and undertook to found 

 a government whose principles were established on popular 

 rights. But for many years, ignorance of the masses and 

 conflicting elements, led by selfish and ambitious partisans, 

 frustrated the objects of the larger class of people who 

 worshipped at the shrine of liberty. History, however, 

 furnishes a few instances of short duration where such 

 attempts were successful. It was not until the art of 

 printing was discovered, and education of the masses had 

 gained considerable headway, that a general desire for 

 more freedom of speech, thought and action began to 

 make itself felt among the potentates of the old and new 

 worlds. The great reforms that have been accomplished 

 within the last two centuries, and the errors that have 

 been eradicated from our religious, social and political 

 systems, are the natural outgrowth of popular education. 

 As the mind is freed from the clouds of ignorance, and 

 new light is shed upon all the forms of nature, the laws 

 of God and the ways of mankind, there is a natural and 

 innate desire for more freedom of action. It might be 

 thought that in a government like ours, where the consti- 

 tution guarantees the fullest freedom of speech and liberty 

 of action, that the discontent everywhere prevailing is 

 without foundation. But if we study the history of 

 American legislation for the past twenty-five years, and 

 mark well its tendency in the interests of the few and 

 against that of the great masses of the people, it will indi- 

 cate a hidden power as diabolical in its nature, sinuous in 



