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LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

will lay them down with joy when she no longer fearsfor that liberty and equality which are become the onlyelements in which Frenchmen can live.” When, soonafter, the country seemed menaced by civil war, thedepartments regarding with fear and jealousy the pro-ceedings in Paris, Condorcet again ascended the tribuneto propose an exposition of their conduct, as due, notto the calumniators of the revolution, but to thosetimid and mistaken men, who, at a great distance, wereled away by false and fabricated accounts. He thenread an address which contained the history of thelabours of the assembly and an exposition of its princi-ples. The address was voted by acclamation, and orderedto he printed and distributed in the departments.

The integrity of Condorcet raised him high in theesteem of his countrymen ; as springing from the claSsof nobles, his disinterestedness could,not be doubted.He loved his country, he loved reason and knowledge,and virtuous conduct and benevolent sentiments. Hewas, with all this, a determined republican . His fa-vourite theory being the perfectibility of mankind, herejected that view of human nature which inculcatesthe necessity of ruling the many by the few, andsinking the majority of his fellow-creatures in ig-norance and hard labour ; he W'ished all to he en-lightened as to their duties, and all to tend equallyto the improvement of their intellectual and moralnature. These theories, if they be mistaken, emanatefrom benevolent and just feelings. They made him ademocrat, because' the very corner-stone of royalty andaristocracy is the setting apart a class of men to possessthe better gifts of fortune and education, and the re-duction of the rest to a state of intellectual dependenceand physical necessity.

1792 . When the king exercised his veto, and put a stop to

-Sitat . the measures considered necessary by the assembly for48 - the safety of France, Condorcet , even as early as themonth of March, represented the monarchical power asat open war with the nation, and proposed that the