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think that principles, such as these, would not only be acknowledged, but be acted upon, by all mankind? That they would not require to be presented to the consideration of our species, but would meet with a spontaneous recognition, in every human breast? And yet how small a portion of mankind are prepared to acknowledge them? Where, unless it be in the two Americas, shall we find it even admitted, "that all men are created equal?" If amidst all that has happened, and all that has been written in favor of liberty, within the last seventy or eighty years, liberty is no where to be found, except on this continent, it would seem to argue but little in favor of the efficiency of the Press, or the omnipotence of our reasoning faculties, towards bringing about revolutions in the physical, moral, and civil condition of man. Thomas Paine, who supported the rights of the people of all nations, with an energy, and an ability, perhaps never excelled, and who judged, as to the future, with as much correctness as most men, predicted[1] (in 1792,) that before the year 1800 should arrive, there would not exist a single crowned head, in Europe; and yet how lamentably wide of the prediction, is the fact! So much so, that we all know there is not a single republican government in Europe, where, as he thought, in 7 or 8 years afterwards, there would have been no other!
- ↑ Rights of Man, Second Part, p. 4.
