In the year 1789 of the Christian era, the French nation, divided by caste, poor and oppressed, struggled in the triple net of royal absolutism, the tyranny of nobles and parliaments, and priestly intolerance.

There was the right of the king and the right of the priest, the right of the patrician and the right of the plebeian; there were the privileges of birth, province, communes, corporations, and trades; and, at the bottom of all, violence, immorality, and misery.
For some time they talked of reformation; those who apparently desired it most favoring it only for their own profit, and the people who were to be the gainers expecting little and saying nothing.

For a long time these poor people, either from distrust, incredulity, or despair, hesitated to ask for their rights: it is said that the habit of serving had taken the courage away from those old communes, which in the middle ages were so bold.
Finally a book appeared, summing up the whole matter in these two propositions: WHAT IS THE THIRD ESTATE ?--NOTHING.

WHAT OUGHT IT TO BE ?--EVERY THING.

Some one added by way of comment: WHAT IS THE KING ?--THE SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE.
This was a sudden revelation: the veil was torn aside, a thick bandage fell from all eyes.