as the heart of man need desire."

"Where is this practical liberty?" replied he; "is it in the liability
of the unprivileged classes to military service?--our total exclusion
from the management of our own affairs?--our rigid subjection to the
surveillance of the police--the restraint we are compelled to impose on
our very speech?--the absence of all tribunals to which, when oppressed
by the government, we can appeal?"

He was running on with a still longer list of grievances, when I
stopped him. "No," said I, "it is not in these particulars that your
practical freedom displays itself,--but in matters much more important,
because of daily and hourly recurrence. You go out and come in when you
will. You make choice of your own walk in life, and pursue it
uninterruptedly. You are safe from injury to person and property. You
have privileges, each of you, which no fellow-subject is permitted to
invade. Are not these very great blessings, and are you not content?

"Privileges!" replied he, "where are they? Undoubtedly, I am permitted
to practise medicine, under certain restrictions, exactly as the
bouerman may till his ground, and the artisan fabricate his wares. But
my privileges are those only which nature has given, and human laws
cannot take away. I may eat when I am hungry, if I can find food; and
drink when I am thirsty. But what am I, regarded as a citizen?--a hewer
of wood, and drawer of water; a mere drudge. Let my talents and
ambition be what they may, I can work out no opening for them. There
are no privileges in the empire, except those enjoyed by the nobles;
and even the nobles have, in point of fact, no rights which they can
call their own."

"What do you mean?" replied I; "if by honest industry you acquire a
fortune, you may purchase land, and take a settled station in society.
The army is open to you, and the church;--what would you have?"

"I would have what you possess in England," answered he; "room to
breathe freely; and a fair field in which to struggle even for the
honours of life. The army is open to us, doubtless; but in the army,
unless I be of noble descent, I cannot hope to rise above the rank of a
captain, at the highest. The church is good for those who are willing
to submit to its restraints, and play the hypocrite. I may purchase
land, too, doubtless, as you say; but its possession will not confer
upon me any, even of the ideal advantages, which are claimed and
conceded to the penniless a