ABSTRACT
The fact which has confounded the judgments of enthusiastic and well-meaning persons is, that in the Republics of Greece, the applause of the wisest and best of men was bestowed on those who took off usurpers by violent death. Undoubtedly, if modern societies were so constituted as were those ancient republics, to kill a tyrant, that is, a person who assumes unaccustomed and illegal power, not only would be a praise-worthy act, but should be inculcated as a sacred duty. The Romans, after the triumph of tyranny, did find it very much to the purpose to recur to the example of their patriots and “more than two hundred years after the establishment of the Imperial Government, the character of the younger Brutus was studied, as the perfect idea of Roman virtue.” This chapter discusses universal suffrage and annual parliaments, and the conduct of the radical reformers, and of the ministerial and opposition parties in parliament.
