DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

| C Bb) repetition, under aggravated conditions, of the sanguinary struggles of preceding times. The Revolution re-enacted these struggles, with the difference that the victory remained with the people. I do not wish to impugn the character of the French. Singularly lively and accomplished, witty and intelligent, artistic and brave, they have, in many respects, been the pioneers of civilisation. But they never were, any more than they are at present, fitted for party government and the steady evolution of popular liberty. Long before 1789, Voltaire sneered at his compatriots as being a compound of the ape and the tiger. During the sixty years’ reign of Louis XV., throughout which the king gave the grossest ex- amples of profligacy, extravagance, and indolence ; when the royal doctrine was that the people were made for the king; when to gain his smile was a surer means of advancement than the performance of a great public service; when questions of etiquette were of greater moment than the win- ning of a battle; when defeated generals were made marshals; when ministers were banished and men of letters sent to jail for inveighing against the mistresses of the king; when those mistresses and their favourites had open warrants at their disposal for imprisoning, without trial, their personal enemies ; when the finances of the country