those inestimable advantages which have flowed from the INTRODUCestablishment of the representative system. TION. 26. In every part of Europe, accordingly, where the northern conquerors established themselves, the rudi- Are univerments of a representative government gradually appeared. lished in sally estabIn all, the barons settled in the country, and the legis- Europe. lative authority was vested in assemblies of persons elected by them, who, under the name of Wittenagemots, Parliaments, States-General, or Cortes, were brought together at stated periods to deliberate on the public concerns. So naturally did this institution spring from the habits and situations of the military settlers, and so little did its first founders anticipate the important consequences which have flowed from its adoption, that the right of sending representatives to parliament was generally considered not as a privilege but as a burden; and that share in the legislature, which is now so much the object of contention and desire, was originally viewed as an oppressive duty, for which those who exercised it were entitled to indemnification from their more fortunate brethren. The barons, however, were long animated by a strong feeling of independence, and in every part of Europe, at their first estab- 253; and ii. lishment, diffused the principle of resistance to arbitrary villaret, authority. Accordingly, in Spain, France, Germany, and 125. Hume, Flanders, we find them manfully resisting the encroach- Ersk. Inst. ments of the sovereign, and in all these countries, the same ines, iv. c. privileges of not being taxed without their consent, and of Clerq. 389. concurring in the acts of the legislature, early established.1 1 Hallam, i. 67, 130. ii. 116, 271. 1, 3. Com 13. Du of heredi primogeni Many causes, doubtless, have conspired to bring about 27. this remarkable and peculiar attachment of the feudal Great effects barons to the principles of freedom and the assertion of tary succesindependence, at least so far as they themselves and their son and own class in society were concerned. But nothing, ture in properhaps, contributed so powerfully to it as the right result. of hereditary succession, and the establishment of the rights of primogeniture, which, from causes it is impossible now to trace, early became universal in all the Gothic ducing this TION. INTRODUO- nations which settled in the European portion of the Roman empire. It was this which constituted the great distinction between the structure of society in the European and Asiatic continents; in the latter of which, although the northern conquerors settled, they never established the feudal institutions, nor ingrafted hereditary succession on the original despotic governments of the eastern world. Rotation of office, appointment for life, and the entire dependence of every functionary on the sovereign, both for his nomination and his continuance in power, constitute the fundamental basis of Asiatic governments, and of despotism, whether regal or democratic, all over the world. The first step in the growth of freedom, in all but single cities or mountain cantons, is to give the subordinate holder of power a durable interest in his government, and strengthen his independence by a lasting connexion between himself and the cultivators of the soil. Such a change produces the same effect on the character, both of the landholder and his dependents, as the converting the tenant-at-will into a copyholder or long leaseholder does on the dispositions of a tenantry. In no rank of life will men make efforts for independence in any situation which they may lose at a moment's notice. As durability of power in one class of society, and the hereditary transmission of land, are thus the only lasting foundation for a restraint on the sovereign power in a rural community, it would appear surprising that these institutions should be so much the object of jealousy in all opulent or commercial communities, did we not recollect that human corruption makes all establishments liable to abuse, and that the very stability which renders the landed aristocracy in a great degree * * America is no exception; on the contrary, it affords the strongest confirmation of these remarks. The sovereign is there the multitude, and there is no restraint on either its injustice or its excesses, as Lynch law, and the repudiating the States' debts, have amply demonstrated. Without primogeniture, to introduce a counterpoise to the power of numbers, it will never attain real freedom. independent of the sovereign, gives them facilities, too INTRODUCoften taken advantage of, for oppressing the people. TION. 28. fects of the feudal sys tem. In all the states, accordingly, in which it was established, the feudal system was subject to the same fatal Fatal dedefect, that it made no provision for the interests or welfare of the inferior classes of society, Like all other institutions in which this want existed, it contained within itself the principles of its own decay. The conquerors of the Roman empire deemed the inhabitants of the provinces in which they settled wholly unworthy of notice; and even in Magna Charta, while the privileges of the barons and the freemen were anxiously provided for, no stipulation of any importance was made for the extensive class of husbandmen or slaves, embracing at least nine-tenths of the community. The decline in the virtue of the barbarous settlers was in most instances extremely rapid, and the succeeding wave of invaders generally found the first set sunk in sloth or destroyed by luxury. In the miserable and degraded barons who deserted Roderick in his contest with the Moorish invaders of Spain, we can hardly discern a trace of resemblance to the impetuous warriors who under Adolph, brother to Alaric the terrible destroyer of Rome, had crossed the Pyrenees in 412, and penetrated into that secluded province of the Roman empire; and the Moorish conquerors were in a few centuries reduced to the same degraded state, from the operation of the same causes. Even the genius and triumphs of Charlemagne were unequal to the herculean task of regenerating the mixture of barbarism and effeminacy of which he formed the head; and humanity never appeared in a more pusillanimous or impotent form than among the Rois Fainéants, the unworthy successors of Charles Martel, and of the barons who died for the liberty of Christendom on the field of Tours. All the efforts of that great monarch for the improvement of his people were thwarted by the limited number of real citizens who existed among them. A TION. 1 Condé, Hist. des ii. 125. INTRODUC few hundred thousand freemen were there to be found scattered among many millions of slaves; and, in his own lifetime, he had the misfortune of beholding the proArab, i. 62; gress of corruption even among the troops whom he had led to victory. The same cause blasted all the beneficent France, ii. efforts of Alfred for the protection and improvement of 410; iii. 96, his country, and exposed the English nation, for so long ner's Anglo- a period, to desolation and ruin from a small body of northern invaders.1 Sism. 279, 355, 97. Tur Saxons, ii. 66. 29. Cause of the early corruption ous con querors. A very simple cause may be assigned for this early corruption and rapid degeneracy of rude conquerors who have settled in the abodes of ancient opulence. They of barbar- attain riches before they have learned how to use them. Luxury breaks in upon them while yet accessible only to the gratifications of sense. Experience has now abundantly proved, that to learn the art of using wealth without abusing it, requires at least as long an apprenticeship in nations, as that of enjoying freedom without running into licentiousness, and that the rapid acquisition of either never fails to prove fatal to the people who obtain it. It is the sudden exposure to irresistible temptation which, in both cases, is the cause of ruin. The same thing may every day be observed in private life. The common sayings, that no man was ever enriched in the end by obtaining a twenty thousand pounds prize in the lottery; that the sons of rich parvenus are much more inclined to extravagance than those of the old families; and that it requires three generations to make a gentleman prove how generally mankind have observed the operation of this principle on the fortunes of individuals or particular families. When an Iroquois sits down beside a cask of spirits, he often inserts a straw into a hole which he has bored in the wood, and sucks up the intoxicating draught till he drops down dead on the spot; but a gentleman who has the command of a cellar amply stored with champagne, is in no danger of perishing by a similar indulgence. The reason is, that he has acquired other TION. tastes, and is familiar with other enjoyments, which are INTRODUCinconsistent with, or prove a counterpoise to, the first seductions of sense. But these more refined tastes and inclinations are of very slow growth; they spring up only in the later stages of society. Many generations must descend to their graves before they spread generally, either in nations, or in any of the classes of which they are composed. This is the true cause of the excessive proneness to the use of ardent spirits which is invariably observed to accompany high wages, arising from manufacturing prosperity, in northern climates or half-civilised states," and which has hitherto defied all the efforts of coercion and philanthropy for its restraint; while the higher classes in the same countries and professions have at length, though only by very slow degrees, extricated themselves from its influence. It is the same with rude tribes settling, with their barbaric tastes, in the regions of ancient opulence. Sensual gratifications instantly become the object In Sweden, where artificial wants are few and stills many, any man, upon paying a trifling license, may purchase from government the right of distilling spirits to any amount; there are 150,000 stills, and spirits consumed to the enormous amount of 30,000,000 gallons among 3,000,000 inhabitants, or ten gallons a-head. As a natural, and too probable consequence, the proportion of crime to the whole population, even in its simple agricultural population, equals that of the most corrupted cities of Great Britain, and is fully triple that of the average of the British population. In the rural districts of Sweden, the committals for serious crime are to the population as 1 in 460: in the towns 1 in 78. For England they were, in 1841, 1 in 573 persons; for Scotland, 1 in 738.-PORTER'S Progress of the Nation, iii. 54, 215; and LAING'S Sweden, 135, 137, 138. These facts at once explain the rapid corruption of northern conquerors, when transplanted into the midst of the passions and gratifications of civilised life. If we would ascertain the secret springs of the greatest revolutions which have ever occurred among mankind, we have only to look around us at the causes which elevate particular individuals and families, and consign others to infamy and ruin. The spring of all human changes is to be found in the human heart; and it is to be read as well in a village as an empire. |