e more of all the good things of
life than are wanted for the use of all its inhabitants. No man, woman,
or child within its boundaries ought ever to be in want of the comforts
of life. God has also given to the people of that country affectionate
hearts, and loyal tempers: as was shown by their long forbearance with
their rulers, under cruel oppression. If such a people in such a land
were miserable, some living in pinching poverty and gross ignorance, and
others in tyranny and selfishness which brought upon them a cruel
retribution, let no one dare to say that such misery was from the will
of God. God showed what his will was when he placed beings with loving
hearts in the midst of the fruitful land. They might and must have been
happy, but for their misuse of his gifts.

The mischief cannot be undone: the misery cannot now be helped: but men
may learn from it not to allow such a case to happen again. It is not
only France that has been ignorant, and guilty, and miserable. Every
country is full of blessings given by the hand of God; and in every
country are those blessings misused, more or less, as they were in
France. If every child, as he grows up, was taught this truth--taught
to reflect how all men may have their share of these blessings who are
willing to work for them, there would be no more danger of such woe as
we have been contemplating. It would then appear as impious as it
really is to call God the author of sufferings which need never happen.
Instead of crying to Him for mercy under intolerable misery, all might
then bless Him for having placed His children on a fair and fruitful
earth, where all may have their fill and dwell in peace.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Peasant and the Prince, by Harriet Martineau

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