5 among the olive groves, on that one which'was his favorite among the mountains that look down upon Jerusalem. Nor was it their mission to institute a pew progress,of mankind; Although the Eastern nations, the first toenjoyjhe light of civilization, had, Jong before the age of the Puritans, sunk into that deep sleep from* which there is as yet no awaking, yet Europe was even then full7 of energy,- enterprise, :and hope.' The better elements of the Oriental'and Mediterranean civilizations had survived, and, co-operating with the pure influences of Christianity,-were enlightening and refining the southern andjwestern.rnations., The Western Church, which until recently was unpartitioned, had1 long;defended =the faith against the Saracens, and protected feeble States against<the aggressions of ambitious princes. It still held the nations in thefbonds of a common fraternity. Nor had it forgotten to proselyte, after the-primitive manner, by inculcating morality and charity. It had, by its potent command, addressed to the conscience of Christendom, abolished throughout Europe that system of personal servitude in which a large, perhaps the largest, portion of every . community had been hitherto held, under every form of government, It’bore its testimony steadily against that system everywhere, declaring .that “ God and Nature ^equally cry out against human slavery-; that serfs and slaves are a part of the human family which Christ died'to redeem ; and that equality is an essential incident of that brotherhood which he enjoins as a test by which this disciples shall be known;” < The foundations of that, comprehensive international code, which is now everywhere accepted; were broadly laid. It was'then clearly taught that “ there are in nature certain fountains of justice, from which all pure civil laws flow, varying only in this—that as waters fake tinctures and.tastes from the soils through which they run, so do civil laws differ according to the regions and governments where they are planted.” Luther had already summoned Europe to a new and more vigorous morality, and Calvin’s sharp voice was ringing through the continent; calling the faithful away; from all ostentatious worship, to that pure and spiritual one which God prefers “ before all temples.” The feudal policy,. although founded in very imperfect conceptions of civil society, had saved, through the recent decline, many personal and political rights and privileges which otherwise would have been swept away, as they were in Asia, by the desolating hand of absolute power. Chivalry, a wild vine engrafted upon Christianity,-was bearing abundatit fruits of courage, constancy, gallantry, munificence; honor, and clemency. The machinery of mercenary armies was not yet perfected, and the security of government was still held tp depend, not on laws and force, but on the approval and sympathies of the people. Commerce had discovered that the oceans were designed, not to separate, but to unite nations, and was extending its field over all habitable climes, and taking on the dignity of its new functions as an auxiliary of empire. Manufactureshad been incorporated as a distinct wheel in the complex enginery of national wealth; and the productive classes had already attained a position among the ruling elements of States. A wise policy of liberal naturalization was breaking up7 local septs and clans, and distributing the seeds of material and social improvement throughout both hemispheres. Indolence, expense, and faction, had prepared that decline of aristocratic orders which still continues. Just notions, of the free tenure of lands, and even that great idea of the universal freedom of labor, which now is agitating the world, prevailed quite Widely. Italy, “ The dark’ned ages’ last remaining light,” had never failed to present examples of Republican institutions. The monarchical constitutions of that period contained sharply-defined limitations, and they were vigorously guarded and defended. It was a general theory, that the subject could not be taxed without consent of the legislature, and that princes could only govern in conformity to laws. England especially had a parliament, the type of modern legislatures, trial by jury, magna charta, and. the common law, constituting one four-fold and majestic arch for the sup-
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