t advances were made
towards it, and great moral truths were impressed upon the nation,--to
be again disregarded, but not to be forgotten. The territorial limits
of France were not permanently enlarged, and the conquests of Napoleon
were restored to the original rulers. The restoration of the former
political system was insisted upon by the Holy Alliance, and the
Bourbon kings, in regaining their throne, again possessed all that
their ancestors had enjoyed but the possession of the hearts of the
people. The allied powers may have restored despotism and legitimacy
for a while; they could not eradicate the great ideas of the
Revolution, and these were destined once more to overturn their
thrones. The reigns of Louis XVIII., Charles X., and Louis Philippe
were but different acts of the long tragedy which was opened by the
convocation of the States General, and which is not probably closed by
the election of Prince Louis Napoleon to the presidency of the French
republic. The _ideas_ which animated La Fayette and Moreau, and which
Robespierre and Napoleon at one time professed, still live, in spite
of all the horrors of the Reign of Terror, and all the streams of
blood which flowed at Leipsic and Waterloo. Notwithstanding the
suicidal doctrines of Socialists and of the various schools of infidel
philosophers, and in view of all the evils which papal despotism, and
democratic license, and military passions have inflicted, and will
continue to inflict, still the immortal principles of liberty are safe
under the protection of that Providence which has hitherto advanced
the nations of Europe from the barbarism and paganism of ancient
Teutonic tribes.

[Sidenote: Condition of Germany.]

Germany suffered the most, and apparently reaped the least, from the
storms which revolutionary discussion had raised. Austria and Prussia
were invaded, pillaged, and humiliated. Their cities were sacked,
their fields were devastated, and the blood of their sons was poured
out like water. But sacrifice and suffering developed extraordinary
virtues and energies, united the various states, and gave nationality
to a great confederation. The struggles of the Germans were honorable
and gigantic, and proved to the world the impossibility of the
conquest of states, however afflicted, when they are resolved to
defend their rights. The career of Napoleon demonstrated the
impossibility of a universal empire in Europe, and least of all, an
empire erected