Paris was then as far from London,
for all practical purposes, as New York now is from Calcutta, so that
when Voltaire told his countrymen of the freedom that prevailed in
England, of the tolerance given to religious sects, of the honors paid
to untitled merit, of Newton, buried in Westminster Abbey with almost
regal pomp, of Addison, secretary of state, and Swift, familiar with
prime ministers, and of the general liberty, happiness, and abundance of
the kingdom, France listened in wonder, as to a new revelation The work
was, of course, immediately placed under the ban by the French
Government, and the author exiled, which only gave it increased currency
and deeper influence.
This was the beginning of the movement which produced at length, the
French Revolution of 1787, and which has continued until France is now
blessed with a free and constitutional government. It began among the
higher classes of the people, for, at that day, not more than one-third
of the French could read at all, and a much smaller fraction could read
such a book as the "Philosophic Letters" and the books which it called
forth. Republicanism was fashionable in the drawing-rooms of Paris for
many years before the mass of the people knew what the word meant.
Among the young noblemen who were early smitten in the midst of
despotism with the love of liberty, was the Marquis de La Fayette, born
in 1757. Few families in Europe could boast a greater antiquity than
his.
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