Page:History of Freedom.djvu/328

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ESSAYS ON LIBERTY

The first liberal movement, that of the Carbonari in the south of Europe, had no specific national character, but was supported by the Bonapartists both in Spain and Italy. In the follo\ving years the opposite ideas of 18 13 came to the front, and a revolutionary movement, in many respects hostile to the principles of revolution, began in defence of liberty, religion, and nationality. All these causes \vere united in the Irish agitation, and in the Greek, Belgian, and Polish revolutions. Those sentiments \vhich had been insulted by Napoleon, and had risen against him, rose against the governments of the restoration. They had been oppressed by the sword, and then by the treaties. The national principle added force, but not justice, to this movement, which, in every case but Poland, was successful. A period follo\ved in which it degenerated into a purely national idea, as the agitation for repeal succeeded emancipation, and Panslavism and Panhellenism arose under the auspices of the Eastern Church. This was the third phase of the resistance to the settlement of Vienna, which was weak, because it failed to satisfy national or constitutional aspirations, either of which would have been a safeguard against the other, by a moral if not by a popular justification. At first, in 1813, the people rose against their conquerors, in defence of their legitimate rulers. They refused to be governed by usurpers. In the period behveen 1825 and 183 I, they resolved that they would not be misgoverned by strangers. The French administration \vas often better than that which it displaced, but there were prior claimants for the authority exercised by the French, and at first the national contest was a contest for legitimacy. In the second period this element \vas ,vanting. No dispossessed princes led the Greeks, the Belgians, or the Poles. The Turks, the Dutch, and the Russians were attacked, not as usurpers, but as oppressors,-because they misgoverned, not because they were of a different race. Then began a time when the text simply ,vas, that nations would not be governed by foreigners. Po\ver legitimately obtained, and exercised with moderation, was declared invalid. National rights,