to the
Black Sea, has nothing to do with the ambition of other _rulers_ but
are referable to the rising spirit of their own _people_. No longer do
the States of Germany combine to repel the assaults of the ruler of
France. Each member of the nominal confederacy is looking to itself as
possessing the active means of revolution, and each leans toward a
combination that shall sustain the rights of the people and put a
specific limit to the power of princes.

No longer do men startle at the grasping avarice of the upper powers
demanding new possessions and the recognition of enlarged prerogative;
no longer is the peace of nations disturbed by the attempts of an
ambitious ruler to extend his domains and enlarge his power. The
convulsions that are everywhere in Europe felt, come from the
up-heaving of the lower masses; deep down in the bosom of empires is
heard the voice of multitudes crying out for newly understood rights.
Up from that stratum comes a convulsive heave, that is toppling down
the thrones that have rested upon the hearts of the people, and not
outside the national limits, not at the terminal portions, not at the
"outer walls" of the capital is the movement felt--but within, at the
heart of the nation, within the shadow of the palace, along the quays
where business is pursued, in the narrow walks of trade, over the
bench of the artisan, or in the boudoir of beauty, is planned the
movement that is subverting thrones and leveling up society. For
nearly a century past have there been at work the elements of such
convulsion. The struggle of the antagonistic powers has been such that
results were postponed--only postponed--while the injurers lost power,
and the injured gathered strength. Premonitory movements were
observed, and in some instances seconded, as in France, in others
allayed by power or concessions, as in Austria and Great Britain. But
when the whole is only a right, the acquisition of a part is only a
prelude to a struggle for more, and this has been seen in every nation
where concession was made to the people, or wrung by force from the
rulers.

But there was reserved for the present year the great assertion of
human rights. The annunciation was first made in France, where tyranny
galled the sensitive portions of the people, or where a taste of
temporary freedom had created an appetite for constant enjoyment. The
flight of Louis Philippe seemed sudden--startling--almost without a
cause; and if nothin