EBOOK THE BRAVO ***
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THE BRAVO
A TALE
BY J. FENIMORE COOPER
"Giustizia in palazzo, e pane in piazza."
1872.
PREFACE
It is to be regretted the world does not discriminate more justly in its
use of political terms. Governments are usually called either monarchies
or republics. The former class embraces equally those institutions in
which the sovereign is worshipped as a god, and those in which he
performs the humble office of a manikin. In the latter we find
aristocracies and democracies blended in the same generic appellation.
The consequence of a generalization so wide is an utter confusion on the
subject of the polity of states.
The author has endeavored to give his countrymen, in this book, a
picture of the social system of one of the _soi-disant_ republics of the
other hemisphere. There has been no attempt to portray historical
characters, only too fictitious in their graver dress, but simply to set
forth the familiar operations of Venetian policy. For the justification
of his likeness, after allowing for the defects of execution, he refers
to the well-known work of M. Daru.
A history of the progress of political liberty, written purely in the
interests of humanity, is still a desideratum in literature. In nations
which have made a false commencement, it would be found that the
citizen, or rather the subject, has extorted immunity after immunity, as
his growing intelligence and importance have both instructed and
required him to defend those particular rights which were necessary to
his well-being.
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