158 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
development of social equality is at once the past and future of 
their history, this discovery alone would confer the character of a 
divine decree upon the change. To attempt to. check Democracy 
would be in that case to resist the will of God, and the nations 
would then be constrained to make the best of the social lot 
awarded to them by Providence.” 
More than a generation has passed away since these remarkable- 
words were written; but every passing year has given them new 
force and a wider currency. We find them confirmed by Ger- 
vinus in his introduction to the “ History of the Nineteenth Cen¬ 
tury.” “ The emancipation of all the oppressed and suffering is the 
vocation of the century, and the force of this idea has been victo¬ 
rious over mighty interests and deeply rooted institutions, which, 
may be perceived in the abolition of serfdom and villenage in 
Europe, and in the liberation of the slaves in the West Indies. 
This is the great feature of the time. The strength of belief and 
conviction, the power of thought, the force of revolution, a clear 
view of the object pursued, endurance and self sacrifice are all 
enlisted on the side of the people, and give this historical move¬ 
ment the character of a divine ordinance which cannot be resisted.” 
John Stuart Mill added his eminent testimony in his work on 
“ Liberty : ” “ There is confessedly a strong tendency in the mod¬ 
ern world towards a democratic constitution of society, accom¬ 
panied or not by popular institutions.” The Westminister Review 
of October, 1868, repeats the idea, “ all society is tending to a 
democratic form, and all government to democratic government- 
It is impossible, even were it desirable, to arrest the tendency, and 
the only hope lies in inaugurating a sound system of morals which 
shall be effectually binding upon all individual persons compos¬ 
ing the state.” 
I think there is no doubting the justness of these conclusions.. 
Whether we hope as radicals, or as conservatives fear the result, 
we must agree as to the facts. Almost within the last decade 
Bussia has emancipated her serfs, Italy has achieved constitutional 
freedom and national unity, Germany has become unified, Eng¬ 
land has extended the privileges of her franchise, and France and 
Spam, rid at least of an unscrupulous emperor and an infamous 
queen, and are now struggling with what ability they may, to 
