law and Constitution of Tennessee. It appears that
for the present his remedy is denied him, and this being the
case he has no better recourse than to submit to the
oppression and go to prison--to the convict camp, if it
suits the convenience of his persecutors to send him there."

SOCIAL CONDITIONS UNDER LOUIS XV. A LESSON FOR THE PRESENT DAY.

To the superficial observer who, as guests of royalty, loitered
through the sunny days which marked the closing years of Louis XV.,
France presented the aspect of a gay, thoughtless, happy, butterfly
nation, whose government on the whole satisfied the requirements of
the rich and powerful, and was sustained by the strong arm of the
army on the one hand and the impregnable influence of the Church on
the other. Small heed was to be given to the pamphleteers, whose
brilliant satire, biting sarcasm, and pointed logic afforded amusement
at the Louvre, rather than struck dismay to the hearts of those who
fondly believed that the Church still held in thrall the brain of the
masses, and that as for centuries the people had been content with
slavery and vassalage, it was absurd to imagine they had now come to
man's estate, had, Phoenix-like, arisen from the ashes of old-time
sullen obedience or ignorant content, into the tumultuous atmosphere
of intellectual activity. It is true, some far-seeing brains beheld
the coming storm and warned the king, urging him to either suppress
the philosophers, or concede to the masses a greater meed of justice,
but their views were scouted by the ruling or conventional thought of
the court, and life at the Louvre continued a merry whirl of carnal
and selfish delight. The morning brought the chases, and evening the
banquet, the theatre, or the ball; while at intervals grand
polytechnic exhibitions delighted the populace, being given, probably,
in the vain hope that they would satisfy the rising discontent, much
as the gladiatorial shows satisfied, while they still further
brutalized, the degraded populace of ancient Rome, making possible the
toleration of such colossal iniquity as marked the decline of the
Empire. Such, then, was the aspect of court life, while above the
social and political horizon were gathering clouds which prophesied
the greatest cataclysm civilization had witnessed. The wilful
short-sightedness, the supreme indifference to the principles of
justice, liberty, and fraternity; the conspicuous a