nities and the great vassals, became more
popular as it grew more absolute; while the suppression of aristocracy,
the removal of the intermediate authorities, was so particularly the
object of the nation, that it was more energetically accomplished after
the fall of the throne. The monarchy which had been engaged from the
thirteenth century in curbing the nobles, was at last thrust aside by
the democracy, because it was too dilatory in the work, and was unable
to deny its own origin and effectually ruin the class from which it
sprang. All those things which constitute the peculiar character of the
French Revolution,--the demand for equality, the hatred of nobility and
feudalism, and of the Church which was connected with them, the constant
reference to pagan examples, the suppression of monarchy, the new code
of law, the breach with tradition, and the substitution of an ideal
system for everything that had proceeded from the mixture and mutual
action of the races,--all these exhibit the common type of a reaction
against the effects of the Frankish invasion. The hatred of royalty was
less than the hatred of aristocracy; privileges were more detested than
tyranny; and the king perished because of the origin of his authority
rather than because of its abuse. Monarchy unconnected with aristocracy
became popular in France, even when most uncontrolled; whilst the
attempt to reconstitute the throne, and to limit and fence it with its
peers, broke down, because the old Teutonic elements on which it
relied--hereditary nobility, primogeniture, and privilege--were no
longer tolerated. The substance of the ideas of 1789 is not the
limitation of the sovereign power, but the abrogation of intermediate
powers. These powers, and the classes which enjoyed them, come in Latin
Europe from a barbarian origin; and the movement which calls itself
liberal is essentially national. If liberty were its object, its means
would be the establishment of great independent authorities not derived
from the State, and its model would be England. But its object is
equality; and it seeks, like France in 1789, to cast out the elements of
inequality which were introduced by the Teutonic race. This is the
object which Italy and Spain have had in common with France, and herein
consists the natural league of the Latin nations.

This national element in the movement was not understood by the
revolutionary leaders. At first, their doctrine appeared entirely
cont