n, and
asserted his right to participate in government. While France
temporarily failed to bring about this participation, it awoke the cry
for independence, equality, and fraternity around the world.

The results of the revolution became the common property {408} of all
nations, and a universal sentiment arising from it pervaded every
country, shaping its destiny. The severe blow given to absolutism and
exclusive privilege in church and state settled forever the theory of
the divine right of kings and prelates to govern. The revolution
asserted that the precedent in religious and political affairs must
yield to the necessities of the people; that there is no fixed
principle in government except the right of man to govern himself.

The establishment of the theory of the natural right of man to
participate in government had great influence on succeeding legislation
and modified the policy of surrounding nations. The social-contract
theory was little understood and gave an incorrect notion of the nature
of government. In its historical creation, government was a growth,
continually suiting itself to the changing needs of a people. Its
practice rested upon convenience and precedent, but the real test for
participation in government was capability. But the French Revolution
startled the monarchs of Europe with the assumption of the natural
right of people to self-government. Possibly it is incorrect when
carried to extremes, for the doctrine of natural right must be merged
into the practice of social rights, duties, and privileges. But it was
a check on despotism.

The revolution had an influence on economic life also. It was only a
step from freedom of intellectual opinion to freedom of religious
belief, and only a step from religious freedom to political liberty.
Carried to its legitimate outcome, the growing sentiment of freedom
asserted industrial liberty and economic equality. Its influence in
the emancipation of labor was far-reaching. Many of the theories
advanced in the French Revolution were impracticable; sentiments
engendered were untrue, which in the long run would lead to injustice.
Many of its promises remain unfulfilled, yet its lessons are still
before us, its influence for good or evil continues unabated.

{409}

SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY

1. The progress in constitutional government was made in England
during the Commonwealth.

2. Changes in the social and economic condition of Engl