force of martyrdoms and
persecutions, the religion of Christ penetrated into the conscience and
the soul; it soon had kings and armies at its orders, and Constantine
and Charlemagne bore it triumphant throughout Europe. Religion then laid
down her arms of war. It laid open to all the principles of peace and
order which it contained; it became the prop of Government, as it was
the organizing element of society. Thus will it be with liberty. In 1793
it frightened people and sovereigns alike; then, having clothed itself
in a milder garb, IT INSINUATED ITSELF EVERYWHERE IN THE TRAIN OF OUR
BATTALIONS. In 1815 all parties adopted its flag, and armed themselves
with its moral force--covered themselves with its colors. The adoption
was not sincere, and liberty was soon obliged to reassume its warlike
accoutrements. With the contest their fears returned. Let us hope that
they will soon cease, and that liberty will soon resume her peaceful
standards, to quit them no more.

"The Emperor Napoleon contributed more than any one else towards
accelerating the reign of liberty, by saving the moral influence of
the revolution, and diminishing the fears which it imposed. Without the
Consulate and the Empire, the revolution would have been only a grand
drama, leaving grand revolutions but no traces: the revolution would
have been drowned in the counter-revolution. The contrary, however,
was the case. Napoleon rooted the revolution in France, and introduced,
throughout Europe, the principal benefits of the crisis of 1789. To
use his own words, 'He purified the revolution, he confirmed kings, and
ennobled people.' He purified the revolution, in separating the
truths which it contained from the passions that, during its delirium,
disfigured it. He ennobled the people in giving them the consciousness
of their force, and those institutions which raise men in their own
eyes. The Emperor may be considered as the Messiah of the new ideas;
for--and we must confess it--in the moments immediately succeeding a
social revolution, it is not so essential to put rigidly into practice
all the propositions resulting from the new theory, but to become master
of the regenerative genius, to identify one's self with the sentiments
of the people, and boldly to direct them towards the desired point. To
accomplish such a task YOUR FIBRE SHOULD RESPOND TO THAT OF THE PEOPLE,
as the Emperor said; you should feel like it, your interests should
be so intimately rais