you know, the reign of the
Carloses has ceased; and I am glad of it. A new era is dawning upon the
world, when knowledge shall be diffused among the people, and they
shall see and feel that their hereditary rulers are tyrants who oppress
them; and they will rise and hurl them from their thrones. A century
from this hour, and the names of king and emperor, of lord and
sovereign, will only be remembered as titles _once_ applied to certain
men whom the fortune of birth gave an imaginary superiority over their
fellow men in general, and endowed with a privilege of ruling the
temporal destinies of the toiling millions. That era has already dawned
in splendor. This very nation is an example of it, and this nation is
destined to revolutionize the world; not by the sword, though it be
mighty in arms and rich in heroes, but by its example, its peaceful and
prosperous course. Man never was made to be forced into measures. The
Almighty placed in his heart an aversion to coercion as applied to
himself. This is what we call pride; and the same pride which leads him
to hate coercion as applied to himself, leads him to desire to coerce
others. This is one of the curses of God upon mankind for their
disobedience, intended to keep them at strife. Hence arise wars and
bloodshed, and the direst scourges that visit the earth. Man must be led
by persuasion, must be induced by example to embrace even that which is
for his own good; and, as I said, this nation will by its example
revolutionize the world. It has deluged France in blood, for its time
has not yet come; but it will come, and the land of the vine will yet be
free. The throne of England--proud mistress of the sea as she loves to
be styled, but as she cannot much longer be styled--will fall. Ireland,
long crushed beneath the iron tread of despotism, will arise and hurl
her chains from her and take her stand among the republics of the earth.
Even my own beloved, but degraded Spain, and sunny Italy, the land of
the olive, ruled for a thousand years by the usurper of Heaven's
prerogative, will yet be free. The crowns that now, heavy with jewels,
adorn the heads of sovereigns, will yet be trampled into the dust by the
rough feet of those whose necks their wearers now bow down and trample
down. THE PEOPLE is the only sovereign, and when knowledge shall have
opened the eyes of the people to the excesses committed by their rulers,
and to their own rights, they will turn and exercise their p