OBSERVATIONS,

&c.

CHAP. I.

INTRODUCTION.

THAT science whose inquiries are directed to the discovery of the sources of human happiness, and to those impediments which ignorance, prejudice, and political arrangements present to its progress, is doubtless worthy of all the study and patient attention which a subject so important demands. And though at present it is only in the infancy of its being, it has bestowed many invaluable blessings on the world.

To discriminate accurately those circumstances and events which may have influenced the national character of any people; to trace and unfold the causes united in its formation; and to develope those obstacles which have opposed or retarded these causes in their

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operation, forms one of those departments of philosophical investigation that can never become useless or uninteresting. The subject, considered in this extended light, is, however, attended with many difficulties. The early history of all nations is necessarily involved in obscurity and fable; political institutions as well as national habits and peculiarities have had their origin for the most part from circumstances which are now unknown: to form theoretical conjectures, therefore, is all to which any claim can be laid; which conjectures, however happy, will always be attended with some degree of that doubt and obscurity which they are intended to remove.

Besides, even within the period of authentic history, some of the circumstances which have a powerful influence on the character and destiny of nations are far from being universally obvious. In this respect the history of a people is not unlike that of an individual: a circumstance so trivial as to escape his own attention, may produce a series of events, all of which contribute to form his character and fix the part appointed him to perform in human life. In many cases, however, it must be allowed, that in tracing the origin of national peculiarity and improvement the same difficulties do not exist. That one government will produce one

set of manners, and a different government another set, is a fact obvious to every one; though it is only philosophers who think it of importance to observe the adaptation of these various institutions to the production of a state of things still more various. "Where the government of a nation is altogether republican, it is apt to beget a peculiar set of manners. Where it is altogether monarchical, "it is more apt to have the same effect; the "imitation of superiors spreading the national "manners among the people. If the govern

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ing part of a state consists altogether of "merchants, aš in Holland, their uniform way "of life will fix their character. If it consists "chiefly of nobles and landed gentry, like

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Germany, France and Spain, the same effect "follows. The genius of a particular sect of "religion is also apt to mould the manners of "a people. The English government is a mix"ture of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. "The people in authority are composed of "gentry and merchants. All sects of religion 66 are to be found among them. And the great liberty and independence which every "man enjoys, allows him to display the man

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ners peculiar to him. Hence the English, "of any people in the universe, have the least

"of a national character; unless this very

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singularity may pass for such."*

A family affords in miniature a good representation of a tribe or people. The principle of imitation and mutual sympathy, so powerful in human nature, leads the little members of this little community to resemble, not merely their parents, but often one another, in disposition, manner and genius. This principle accounts for that similarity of character to be met with among people of the same district, of the same county, and of the same kingdom. We insensibly assume the habits of thinking and action of those with whom we associate. It is not necessary, therefore, to maintain, as some have done, that physical causes occasion the diversity of manners observable in different nations; this is sufficiently accounted for, and certainly not less intelligibly, by the unbounded influence which moral causes exert on the mind. The laws of association,like those of gravitation,are uniform in their action; their force is felt in the various scenes and occupations of life; we may easily assign to their operation, therefore, that variety of moral phenomena which distinguish the different nations of our globe.

* Hume's Essay on National Character.

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