in Mohammedan lands. On October 20 of the year 1827, the ships of
the three nations attacked the Turkish fleet in the bay of Navarino and
destroyed it. Rarely has the news of a battle been received with such
general rejoicing. The people of western Europe and Russia who enjoyed
no freedom at home consoled themselves by fighting an imaginary war of
liberty on behalf of the oppressed Greeks. In the year 1829 they had
their reward. Greece became an independent nation and the policy of
reaction and stability suffered its second great defeat.

It would be absurd were I to try, in this short volume, to give you a
detailed account of the struggle for national independence in all other
countries. There are a large number of excellent books devoted to such
subjects. I have described the struggle for the independence of Greece
because it was the first successful attack upon the bulwark of reaction
which the Congress of Vienna had erected to "maintain the stability
of Europe." That mighty fortress of suppression still held out and
Metternich continued to be in command. But the end was near.

In France the Bourbons had established an almost unbearable rule
of police officials who were trying to undo the work of the French
revolution, with an absolute disregard of the regulations and laws of
civilised warfare. When Louis XVIII died in the year 1824, the people
had enjoyed nine years of "peace" which had proved even more unhappy
than the ten years of war of the Empire. Louis was succeeded by his
brother, Charles X.

Louis had belonged to that famous Bourbon family which, although it
never learned anything, never forgot anything. The recollection of
that morning in the town of Hamm, when news had reached him of the
decapitation of his brother, remained a constant warning of what might
happen to those kings who did not read the signs of the times aright.
Charles, on the other hand, who had managed to run up private debts of
fifty million francs before he was twenty years of age, knew nothing,
remembered nothing and firmly intended to learn nothing. As soon as
he had succeeded his brother, he established a government "by priests,
through priests and for priests," and while the Duke of Wellington, who
made this remark, cannot be called a violent liberal, Charles ruled in
such a way that he disgusted even that trusted friend of law and order.
When he tried to suppress the newspapers which dared to criticise his
government, and dismisse