CHAPTER XII - REVIEW OF THE REVOLUTIONARY CRISIS.—ASCERTAINMENT OF THE FINAL TENDENCY OF MODERN SOCIETY

Summary

The two progressions which were preparing society for its regeneration had advanced at unequal rates,—the negative having far outstripped the positive; and thus the need of reorganization was vehemently felt before the method and the means of effecting it were disclosed. This is the true explanation of the vicious course taken by the revolutionary movement to this day. The explosion which ensued, lamentable as it was in many ways, was inevitable; and, besides being inevitable, it was salutary,—inasmuch as without it the caducity of the old system could not have been fully revealed, nor all hopes from it have been intrepidly cast away. The crisis proclaimed to all advanced peoples the approach of the regeneration which had been preparing for five centuries; and it afforded the solemn experiment which was necessary to show the powerlessness of critical principles to do anything but destroy. The preparation of the different European nations for the lesson varied, according as the monarchical and Catholic, or the aristocratic and Protestant form of power was established. We have seen that the former was the more favourable to the decay of the old system and the construction of the new; and for various reasons, France was evidently the country to take the lead.