not the measure, in which reform is needed. They
oppose an order of things which is the result of a selfish and violent
abuse of power by the ruling classes, and of artificial restriction on
the natural progress of the world, destitute of an ideal element or a
moral purpose. Practical extremes differ from the theoretical extremes
they provoke, because the first are both arbitrary and violent, whilst
the last, though also revolutionary, are at the same time remedial. In
one case the wrong is voluntary, in the other it is inevitable. This is
the general character of the contest between the existing order and the
subversive theories that deny its legitimacy. There are three principal
theories of this kind, impugning the present distribution of power, of
property, and of territory, and attacking respectively the aristocracy,
the middle class, and the sovereignty. They are the theories of
equality, communism, and nationality. Though sprung from a common
origin, opposing cognate evils, and connected by many links, they did
not appear simultaneously. Rousseau proclaimed the first, Baboeuf the
second, Mazzini the third; and the third is the most recent in its
appearance, the most attractive at the present time, and the richest in
promise of future power.

In the old European system, the rights of nationalities were neither
recognised by governments nor asserted by the people. The interest of
the reigning families, not those of the nations, regulated the
frontiers; and the administration was conducted generally without any
reference to popular desires. Where all liberties were suppressed, the
claims of national independence were necessarily ignored, and a
princess, in the words of Fenelon, carried a monarchy in her wedding
portion. The eighteenth century acquiesced in this oblivion of corporate
rights on the Continent, for the absolutists cared only for the State,
and the liberals only for the individual. The Church, the nobles, and
the nation had no place in the popular theories of the age; and they
devised none in their own defence, for they were not openly attacked.
The aristocracy retained its privileges, and the Church her property;
and the dynastic interest, which overruled the natural inclination of
the nations and destroyed their independence, nevertheless maintained
their integrity. The national sentiment was not wounded in its most
sensitive part. To dispossess a sovereign of his hereditary crown, and
to annex his dom