reme power. The world is waiting for a legislative people; it
wishes and demands it; and my heart attends the cry.

Then turning towards the west: Yes, continued he, a hollow sound already
strikes my ear; a cry of liberty, proceeding from far distant shores,
resounds on the ancient continent. At this cry, a secret murmur against
oppression is raised in a powerful nation; a salutary inquietude alarms
her respecting her situation; she enquires what she is, and what she
ought to be; while, surprised at her own weakness, she interrogates her
rights, her resources, and what has been the conduct of her chiefs.

Yet another day--a little more reflection--and an immense agitation will
begin; a new-born age will open! an age of astonishment to vulgar minds,
of terror to tyrants, of freedom to a great nation, and of hope to the
human race!

CHAPTER XIV.

THE GREAT OBSTACLE TO IMPROVEMENT.

The Genius ceased. But preoccupied with melancholy thoughts, my mind
resisted persuasion; fearing, however, to shock him by my resistance, I
remained silent. After a while, turning to me with a look which pierced
my soul, he said:

Thou art silent, and thy heart is agitated with thoughts which it dares
not utter.

At last, troubled and terrified, I replied:

O Genius, pardon my weakness. Doubtless thy mouth can utter nothing but
truth; but thy celestial intelligence can seize its rays, where my gross
faculties can discern nothing but clouds. I confess it; conviction has
not penetrated my soul, and I feared that my doubts might offend thee.

And what is doubt, replied he, that it should be a crime? Can man
feel otherwise than as he is affected? If a truth be palpable, and
of importance in practice, let us pity him that misconceives it.
His punishment will arise from his blindness. If it be uncertain or
equivocal, how is he to find in it what it has not? To believe without
evidence or proof, is an act of ignorance and folly. The credulous
man loses himself in a labyrinth of contradictions; the man of sense
examines and discusses, that he may be consistent in his opinions. The
honest man will bear contradiction; because it gives rise to evidence.
Violence is the argument of falsehood; and to impose a creed by
authority is the act and indication of a tyrant.

O Genius, said I, encouraged by these words, since my reason is free, I
strive in vain to entertain the flattering hope with which you endeavor
to console me. The sensible an