text:  But still this indulgence of these natural and in some respects praiseworthy feelings has blinded Sismondi to the insurmountable evils of a confederacy of small republics at this time amidst surrounding powerful and monarchical states; and to the inappreciable blessings of the Christian faith and even of the Romish superstition before the period when these infamous cruelties began when their warfare was only with the oppressor their struggles with the destroyers of the human race