editorials for political papers. In Russia, Catharine II., the
absolute and irresponsible ruler of that vast nation, gave utterance
to views, of which, says La Harpe, the revolutionists of France and
America fondly thought themselves the originators. She caused her
grandchildren to be educated into the most liberal ideas, and Russia
was at one time the only country in Europe where political refugees
could find safety. To Catharine, Russia is indebted for the first
proposition to enfranchise the serfs, but meeting strong opposition
she was obliged to relinquish this idea, which was carried to fruition
by her great-grandson, Alexander.

This period of the eighteenth century was famous for the executions of
women on account of their radical political opinions, Madame Roland,
the leader of the liberal party in France, going to the guillotine
with the now famous words upon her lips, "Oh, Liberty, what crimes are
committed in thy name!" The beautiful Charlotte Corday sealed with her
life her belief in liberty, while Sophia Lapierre barely escaped the
same fate; though two men, Sieyes and Condorcet, in the midst of the
French Revolution, proposed the recognition of woman's political
rights.

Frances Wright, a person of extraordinary powers of mind, born in
Dundee, Scotland, in 1797, was the first woman who gave lectures on
political subjects in America. When sixteen years of age she heard of
the existence of a country in which freedom for the people had been
proclaimed; she was filled with joy and a determination to visit the
American Republic where the foundations of justice, liberty, and
equality had been so securely laid. In 1820 she came here, traveling
extensively North and South. She was at that time but twenty-two years
of age. Her letters gave Europeans the first true knowledge of
America, and secured for her the friendship of LaFayette. Upon her
second visit she made this country her home for several years. Her
radical ideas on theology, slavery, and the social degradation of
woman, now generally accepted by the best minds of the age, were then
denounced by both press and pulpit, and maintained by her at the risk
of her life. Although the Government of the United States was framed
on the basis of entire separation of Church and State, yet from an
early day the theological spirit had striven to unite the two, in
order to strengthen the Church by its union with the civil power. As
early as 1828, the standard of "The