Page:Aristopia (1895).pdf/189

 his youth, but on the experiences of his long life. He hud kept himself fully informed, by means of his wide correspondence, of all public events of both Europe and America.

He urged his people to guard their liberties with unremitting and unending vigilance. He pointed out the dangers to which these liberties would be exposed and whence would probably come the assaults upon them; that these assaults would not be hold, abrupt, and open, but stealthy, insidious, and gradual. With every succeeding generation the dangers to popular liberty from the despotism of hereditary monarchy and aristocracy would grow less. With increasing and advancing civilization another kind of despotism—the despotism of wealth—would become more and more dangerous. This despotism might be hereditary, the slow growth of generations, or it might be the sudden growth of a score or two of years. In a new country, where so much of nature's wealth was unappropriated and so wide a scope was offered for those excelling in greed, cunning, and strength to grasp this unappropriated wealth, the sudden acquisition of great riches might be looked for in many cases.