Republic, the French Republic followed in her footsteps.  Now in France a monarchical government was in existence before the declaration of independence, and the supreme power of administration was in the hands of the King.  The people, having never participated in the administration and lacking experience in self-government, made a poor experiment of the republican system which they suddenly set up.  The result was that for many years disorder reigned, and the tyranny of the military governments held sway one after another.  After the defeat of Napoleon, the monarchical system was restored as a result of the intervention of other Powers.  The second revolution in 1830 again resulted in the restoration of the monarchy but the power of the common people was considerably increased.  The monarchy was again overthrown in 1848 and a Republic formed in its stead—­the nephew of Napoleon was then made President.  This President, however, once more discarded republicanism and set up a monarchy for himself.  It was not until after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 that Napoleon III. was overthrown and the final Republic established which has lived for half a century now, there being every likelihood of its continuing in its present form.

Indeed the Republic of France has every prospect of being permanent, but the permanency is only the result of a hundred years’ political revolution.  For a hundred years the foundations were being laid by means of an energetic and persistent campaign of education, which increased the political knowledge of the people.  The people were also allowed to participate in political affairs, and so gained experience in self-government.  This is why the French Republic is a success.  Then in France and America they have found a solution for the difficult problem of the nation, that is the problem of succession of the government in power.  The President of France is elected by the Parliament while the President of America is elected by the people.  The people of these two countries are all experienced in self-government as a result of participation in political affairs.  Furthermore, for the last fifty years these two countries have all laid emphasis on universal education by having an extensive system of schools, subsidized by the Government.  The intellectual standard of these two peoples is therefore fairly high.

As a result of the examples set up by France and America, at the end of the Eighteenth Century the Spanish colonies in Central and South America also declared their independence one after the other.  The conditions then prevailing in those countries were somewhat similar to those of America.  When their independence was declared, it seemed that the republican system was best suited to their condition.  For on the one hand there was no imperial house to direct the people, on the other hand the Republic of North America was a good example to follow.  Public opinion was at that time unanimous that since the republican