7771. SELF-GOVERNMENT, Europe and.—
A first attempt to recover the right of
self-government may fail, so may a second,
a third, etc. But as a younger and more instructed
race comes on, the sentiment becomes
more and more intuitive, and a fourth,
a fifth, or some subsequent one of the ever
renewed attempts will ultimately succeed. In
France, the first effort was defeated by Robespierre,
the second by Bonaparte, the third
by Louis XVIII. and his holy allies; another
is yet to come, and all Europe, Russia excepted,
has caught the spirit; and all will
attain representative government, more or
less perfect. * * * To attain all this, however,
rivers of blood must yet flow, and years
of desolation pass over; yet the object is
worth rivers of blood, and years of desolation.
For what inheritance so valuable, can man
leave to his posterity? You and I shall look
down from another world on these glorious
achievements to man, which will add to the
joys even of heaven.—
To John Adams. Washington ed. vii, 307.
Ford ed., x, 270.
(M.
1823)
