INTRODUCTION. 393 



the world, sunk in ashes, and was no more. The circum- 

 stances which made this result appear more miraculous 

 and cause the powers of Europe to tremble for their own 

 safety was the agency of a new power by which it was 

 consummated a power which must inevitably prove 

 stronger than the fortresses or armed legions of despots 

 the power of Opinion ! 



In the trials of the older empires, the motives of 

 action were mainly confined to the higher ranks. Wars 

 were undertaken by ambitious princes to extend their con- 

 quests, or they were occasioned by the rivalry of aspirants 

 to sovereignty. The French revolution was of a different 

 character. It was a warfare between the people and the 

 sovereign a rebellion against privilege and for equality. 

 It was not a conflict to decide who should be recognized as 

 the oppressor of the people, but it was a warfare against 

 oppression itself. We call the attention of our readers to 

 these facts because there is a closer analogy between the 

 French nation in 1789 and the present condition of our 

 country than many would suppose. It is true, that like 

 the phantasmagoric effect of a magic lantern, the scene 

 has been changed, and in place of a ruler we have adopted 

 systems which, under the magic hands of a. master pro- 

 duce the same effect, without, however, revealing the 

 cause. 



These systems are not new, but old under a new dis- 

 guise, and, equally oppressive in the burdens which they 

 impose and diabolical in the effects of their consummation. 



In every age of the world it has been, on the part of 

 the great masses of the people, a constant struggle for 

 liberty, and, although there are periods when it seemed 

 that every vestige of freedom and civilization had been 

 blotted from the face of the earth, and rapine, plunder 

 and vice in all its worst forms reigned supreme, the 

 candle of liberty still burned with a feeble flame that 



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