n cause of the miseries which brought on the
French Revolution. When the Third Estate brought up their "portfolio of
grievances," for one complaint against the exactions of the monarchy
there were fifty complaints against the exactions of the nobility.

Then came the failure of the Revolution in its direct purpose; and of
this failure the serf-mastering caste was a main cause. For this caste,
hardened by ages of domineering over a servile class, despite 4th of
August renunciations, would not, could not, accept a position compatible
with freedom and order; so earnest men were maddened, and sought to tear
out this cancerous mass, with all its burning roots.

But for Richelieu's great fault there is an excuse. His mind was
saturated with ideas of the impossibility of inducing freed peasants to
work; the impossibility of making them citizens; the impossibility, in
short, of making them men. To his view was not unrolled the rich newer
world history, to show that a working class is most dangerous when
restricted; that oppression is more dangerous to the oppressor than to
the oppressed; that if man will hew out paths to liberty, God will hew
out paths to prosperity. But Richelieu's fault teaches the world not
less than his virtues.

At last on December 3, 1642, the great statesman lay upon his death-bed.
The death-hour is a great revealer of motives, and, as with weaker men,
so with Richelieu. Light then shot over the secret of his whole life's
plan and work. He was told that he must die: he received the words with
calmness. As the host, which he believed the veritable body of the
Crucified, was brought him, he said: "Behold my Judge before whom I must
shortly appear! I pray him to condemn me if I have ever had any other
motive than the cause of religion and my country." The confessor asked
him if he pardoned his enemies: he answered, "I have none but those of
the state."

So passed from earth this strong man. Keen he was in sight, steady in
aim, strong in act. A true man, not "non-committal," but wedded to a
great policy in the sight of all men; seen by earnest men, of all times,
to have marshalled against riot and bigotry and unreason, divine forces
and purposes.

GREAT PURITAN EXODUS TO NEW ENGLAND

FOUNDING OF BOSTON

A.D. 1630

JOHN G. PALFREY

Whatever might have been the historic development of New
England had it proceeded from the single plantation at
Plymouth, it is certain that the gr