Chap. LII.} 1774. April. |
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Venice and Genoa had stifled the spirit of indepen-
dence in their prodigal luxury.
Holland was ruinagainst ously divided against itself.
In Great Britain the House of Commons had become so venal, that it might be asked, whether a body so chosen and so influenced was fit to exercise legislative power even within the realm.
If it shall succeed in establishing by force of arms its ‘boundless’ authority over America, where shall humanity find an asylum?
But this decay of the old forms of liberty was the symptom and the forerunner of a new creation.
The knell of the ages of servitude and inequality was rung; those of equality and brotherhood were to dawn.
As the fleets and armies of England went forth to consolidate arbitrary power, the sound of war every where else on the earth died away.
Kings sat still in awe, and nations turned to watch the issue.
Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1859.
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