267. ALEXANDER OF RUSSIA, Reform and.—
The apparition of such a man
[as Alexander] on a throne is one of the phenomena
which will distinguish the present epoch
so remarkable in the history of man. But he
must have an herculean task to devise and
establish the means of securing freedom and
happiness to those who are not capable of
taking care of themselves. Some preparation
seems necessary to qualify the body of a nation
for self-government. Who could have thought
the French nation incapable of it? Alexander
will doubtless begin at the right end, by taking
means for diffusing instruction and a sense of
their natural rights through the mass of his
people, and for relieving them in the meantime
from actual oppression.—
To Dr. Joseph Priestley.
Ford ed., viii, 179.
(W.
Nov. 1802)
