Excerpt from Parisian Sights and French Principles, Seen Through American Spectacles All men are born free and equal, says the American Con stitution. All men are born in the bondage of Sin, says high er and truer authority. From that bondage spring those in equalities of life, which no axiom of politics can make level, or theory of philosophy make straight. It is useless to deny this truth. Nature proclaims it in every form, animate and inanimate. What contrast can be greater than between the humble but useful carbon and the brilliant and imperishable diamond! Yet both are of the same material. Every flow er, shrub, and tree differs from its neighbor, each betraying some peculiar excellence, or the effects of disease or decay, the sad heritage of man's fall from freedom and equality. The brute kingdom alike shares man's destiny. Some ani mals there are born to beauty, health, and vigor; others to homeliness, infirmity, and suffering. The sole equality to man or beast is in the provision provided for entering or leav ing this world, and the sole inheritage of indeprivable free dom is in the common air all breathe, and the mother earth. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.