* A singular moral phenomenon made its appearance in Europe in the year 1788.  A great nation, jealous of its liberty, contracted a fondness for a nation the enemy of liberty; a nation friendly to the arts, for a nation that detests them; a mild and tolerant nation, for a persecuting and fanatic one; a social and gay nation, for a nation whose characteristics are gloom and misanthropy; in a word, the French were smitten with a passion for the Turks:  they were desirous of engaging in a war for them, and that at a time when revolution in their own country was just at its commencement.  A man, who perceived the true nature of the situation, wrote a book to dissuade them from the war:  it was immediately pretended that he was paid by the government, which in reality wished the war, and which was upon the point of shutting him up in a state prison.  Another man wrote to recommend the war:  he was applauded, and his word taken for the science, the politeness, and importance of the Turks.  It is true that he believed in his own thesis, for he has found among them people who cast a nativity, and alchymists who ruined his fortune; as he found Martinists at Paris, who enabled him to sup with Sesostris, and Magnetizers who concluded with destroying his existence.  Notwithstanding this, the Turks were beaten by the Russians, and the man who then predicted the fall of their empire, persists in the prediction.  The result of this fall will be a complete change of the political system, as far as it relates to the coast of the Mediterranean.  If, however, the French become important in proportion as they become free, and if they make use of the advantage they will obtain, their progress may easily prove of the most honorable sort; inasmuch as, by the wise decrees of fate, the true interest of mankind evermore accords with their true morality.

CHAPTER XIII.

Will the human race Improve?

At these words, oppressed with the painful sentiment with which their severity overwhelmed me:  Woe to the nations! cried I, melting in tears; woe to myself!  Ah! now it is that I despair of the happiness of man!  Since his miseries proceed from his heart; since the remedy is in his own power, woe for ever to his existence!  Who, indeed will ever be able to restrain the lust of wealth in the strong and powerful?  Who can enlighten the ignorance of the weak?  Who can teach the multitude to know their rights, and force their chiefs to perform their duties?  Thus the race of man is always doomed to suffer!  Thus the individual will not cease to oppress the individual, a nation to attack a nation; and days of prosperity, of glory, for these regions, shall never return.  Alas! conquerors will come; they will drive out the oppressors, and fix themselves in their place; but, inheriting their power, they will inherit their rapacity; and the earth will have changed tyrants, without changing the tyranny.