"The revolution in
England in 1688, was occasioned by the abdication of James II., the
establishment of the House of Orange on the throne, and the restoring of
the constitution to its primitive state."
Our revolution of '76, and onward, was not a rebellion; it was resistance
of oppression, of burdensome taxation without equal representation, and it
resulted in our distinct nationality.
The revolutions of France have been of a similar character; they have
sprung from oppression of the most severe and unnatural kind. This was the
fact, at least, in 1797 and in 1830. In 1848, when it was my lot to be in
the midst of it, the revolution arose from the selfish conduct of Louis
Philippe, who enriched himself and his family out of the national
treasury, and encouraged his sons in a course which was at war with
national precedent, with the commercial interests and democratic
individualism of the French; for with their imperial prestiges and tastes
they are extreme in their personal democracy.
But all these revolutions resulted in good to the people. Education,
public spirit, enterprise, labor, all the arts of civilization, and even
evangelical Christianity received a new impulse. Mind was opened and
enlarged; the people thought for themselves, and sighed for knowledge and
a better faith.
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