Excerpt from Democracy and Monarchy in France: From the Inception of the Great Revolution to the Overthrow of the Second Empire At the time when the work was undertaken, there was everywhere prevalent a more or less general astonishment at the political weakness of France, as displayed after the out break of the franco-german War. In the course of lectures referred to, it was my effort to show that the present political character of the French people is the legitimate result of cer tain doctrines and habits that have been taking root in the na tion during the past hundred years. The same purpose has animated the preparation of the present volume. It seems to me that every genuine student of history must feel that there is no more potent political truth than this, that the present has its roots running far back into the past, and that it draws its life from the ideas and institutions that have gone before, just as certainly as the vegetation of to-day ceives its nourishment from the decaying remains of preceding organic life. I think that one of the most extraordinary ex amples in illustration of this truth, is to be found in the mod ern political life of France. Moreover, the lesson taught by this example is as valuable as it is extraordinary; for it brings vividly before us the general truth, that while, on the one hand, the present is the child of the past, on the other, it is in its turn to be the parent of the future. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.