of property, in the conditions of industry,
labour, family, and in all the relations of man with man, and man with
woman: the second,--that this philosophic and social movement of
democracy would seek its natural form in a form of government analogous
to its principle, and its nature; that is to say, representing the
sovereignty of the people; republic with one or two heads: and, finally,
that the social and political emancipation would involve in it the
intellectual and religious emancipation of the human mind; that the
liberty of thought, of speaking and acting, should not pause before the
liberty of belief; that the idea of God confined in the sanctuaries,
should shine forth pouring into each free conscience the right of
liberty itself; that this light, a revelation for some, and reason for
others, would spread more and more with truth and justice, which emanate
from God to overspread the earth.

VII.

Human thought, like God, makes the world in its own image.

Thought was revived by a philosophical age.

It had to transform the social world.

The French Revolution was therefore in its essence a sublime and
impassioned spirituality. It had a divine and universal ideal. This is
the reason why its passion spread beyond the frontiers of France. Those
who limit, mutilate it. It was the accession of three moral
sovereignties:--

The sovereignty of right over force;

The sovereignty of intelligence over prejudices;

The sovereignty of people over governments.

Revolution in rights; equality.

Revolution in ideas; reasoning substituted for authority.

Revolution in facts; the reign of the people.

A Gospel of social rights.

A Gospel of duties, a charter of humanity.

France declared itself the apostle of this creed. In this war of ideas
France had allies every where, and even on thrones themselves.

VIII.

There are epochs in the history of the human race, when the decayed
branches fall from the tree of humanity; and when institutions grown old
and exhausted, sink and leave space for fresh institutions full of sap,
which renew the youth and recast the ideas of a people. Antiquity is
replete with this transformation, of which we only catch a glimpse in
the relics of history. Each decadence of effete ideas carries with it an
old world, and gives its name to a new order of civilisation. The East.
China, Egypt, Greece, Rome, have seen these ruins and these renewals.
The West experienced them when the D