OF ENGLISH LIBERTY. 9 



that the mandate of the king, countersigned by his council, was con- 

 sidered as positive law.* Should, however, there really be a period 

 when the first germs of British liberty could be historically substanti- 

 ated, doubtless, it would be that of the feudal system, as introduced by 

 the Norman conquest, which was followed up with more severity, and 

 on a more extensive scale, than in any other country of Europe ; which 

 subjected to the immediate royal authority indiscriminately, more or 

 less, all classes of society, the most humble not excepted, by which— 

 as is still evident from the expressions and forms of English jurispru- 

 dence and its penal code — vassalage and submission were placed in 

 one and the same category : and which united, under the focus of roy- 

 al supremacy, all the classes of society which were hitherto divided 

 in an infinite number of inimical and contending parties, and thus se- 

 curing the individual right by the protection of the whole mass. 



In English history we meet with numerous instances of regulations 

 and laws which may be traced from that period, bearing, in fact, a 

 striking resemblance to those provisions which served afterwards as 

 the basis of the English constitution : yet we may search in vain, even 

 for several centuries after the Norman conquest, for traces of any- 

 thing like a system or plan in those laws, which owe, in reality, 

 their existence merely to chancfe and accident, rather than to the wis- 

 dom and sagacity of their authors, who, it is more than probable, were 

 not at all aware of the merits and importance of their random, and of- 

 ten thoughtless enactments. Whether it be advisable, in point of edu- 

 cation, that children should commit to memory words at an early 

 stage of infancy, when their understanding is, as yet, not sufficiently 

 developed to catch the true signification, is a question which, perhaps, 

 is out of order here ; yet it is true that nations are educated on that 

 same plan. History tells us that all of them have learned the most 

 important truths first by heart, and afterwards only by the palpable 

 import of their sense and spirit. With all infant nations the word 

 preceded the thought, and the form the solution of the problem ; and 

 it is only with the aid of this observation that we are enabled to ac- 

 count for many contradictory points in the early history and institu- 

 tions of nations. 



A remarkable instance of such contradictions is evident from the 

 history of England, at a period when other nations were in a deep le- 

 thargy as regards civilization. So dull and stagnated were the moral 

 and political conditions of the people of surrounding countries, that 



• Sir Henry Spelman, " In verbo : judicium Dei." 



VOL. X., NO. XXVIII. 2 



