10 (Sew 
1825.]-- “i 
character of ambassadors, came to the 
court of Louis XIV. 
“ Had they~ (says he) been monkeys, 
taught to walk upright, and to make them- 
selves understood by interpreters, greater 
astonishment could not have been manifest- 
ed at the justness of their replies, and the 
good sense that sometimes appears in their 
conversation, than now. Does the pre- 
judice of country and our national pride 
make us forget, that the attribute of reason 
belongs.to universal man? We should not 
brook this treatment from those we call 
barbarians ; shall we, then, prove ourselves 
barbarian, by ignorant startling, and un- 
mannerly astonishment, when we find 
others exercise this great prerogative?” 
As our own Judge Blackstone has, in 
his “ Commentaries,” distributed the 
subject of Ricuts, and also of Wronas, 
so may Prersupices be divided; one 
class referring to Persons, another to 
Things. In both, the distinction is ma- 
terial ; for the Origin and Remedy of 
prejudices, as well as of wrongs, or of 
rights, are essentially different. 
Personal prejudices are often thought 
much less injurious than they are. They 
may, generally, be traced to, some vi- 
cious propensity ; and though the bias 
be favourable to the object, still it may, 
probably, be found to originate in in- 
terest, self-love, or some collateral 
feeling. Even that powerful partiality, 
which exists in the human heart to- 
wards its offspring—which “ Nature 
there implanted,” as ancient poets tell, 
to secure these tender objects from the 
consequences of caprice, and to bind 
them closer to our affections than they 
could be by any ties of duty, may yet 
degenerate into weakness and _ infir- 
mity ; and the word Prejudice may too 
truly characterize the fondness of a 
parent to his child. 
Rooted dislike, aversion, or anti- 
pathy to individuals, is a species of pre- 
judice much more frequently resulting 
from malignity than from timidity, or 
other weakness, which’ may occa- 
sionally produce unfavourable impres- 
sions. In short, we may, unhesitatingly, 
say, that personal dislike is, in most 
cases, created and nourished by pride, 
jealousy, malice, or envy. Prejudices 
of this class, heightening the repulsion, 
oftentimes produced by external ap- 
pearances alone, are, it is feared, too 
deeply imbedded in the human heart 
to be easily, if at all, eradicated by any 
human influence. But where an indi- 
vidual is unaware of the true cause of 
his dislike, this should be vigilantly 
sought out, and carefully examined. 
On Prejudices. 
325 
With respect to things, prejudices 
are innumerable, It is easy to perceive 
that, our facultiesand means. of infor- 
mation being finite and limited, while 
our curiosity is alert, and our ambition 
vaulting and unbounded, errors must 
and will accrue; and it is, unfortunate- 
ly, natural to us not easily, or always 
willingly, to relinquish them. Some- 
times our very toils and troubles have 
only strengthened us in error; and, 
sometimes, obstinacy—imere and. sheer 
obstinacy—weds us to it closer still : 
as Launce loved his dog Crab more and; 
more, because others reviled him. 
It is amusing, but oftentimes humi- 
liating, to recall the many instances in 
which scholars and men of undoubted 
talent have, within (comparatively) a 
few years, invented, and strenuously 
supported theories, which further exa- 
mination has shown to be false, and 
even hurtful: from plenum to philo- 
giston; from strenuous adherents to 
the old style, to no less strenuous advo- 
cates of the new; from philosophical 
maintainers of the truths elicited by 
Sir Isaac Newton, down to noisy de- 
claimers in support of more modern 
doctrines: the truth of which is not, 
in toto, denied, but the manner of en- 
forcing adverted to. There are indi- 
viduals (whom surrounding cireum- 
stances entitle us to call prejudiced) 
who still pretend that a negro is a ra- 
tional brute, or irrational man ; and that 
his organization is not the same as that 
of white men. Scientific, as well as 
natural history, is disfigured by many 
ingenious (so seeming) hypotheses, 
which have been constructed on slen- 
der and ill-authenticated facts. With 
the increase ofknowledge, these hypo- 
theses become less and less tenable, but 
yet are not wholly rejected; and their 
supporters exert an amazing deal of 
ingenuity in attempting to reconcile 
them with the new. data: and hence a 
battle of books takes its rise, waged with 
Trojan and anti-Trojan fury; and for 
more than ten times ten years, without 
decisive success on eitherhand. Leibnitz 
was supposed, by many of his partizans, 
to have been completely triumphant in 
the Newtonian controversy. Both ap- 
pealed to pen and ink, and posterity 
has decided that Newton was right, 
and Leibnitz wrong. Prejudice, there- 
fore, spreading its baneful influence 
among the German philosophers, had . 
prevented their according justice to 
their rival: and it must be allowed, 
that, in matters of philosophy, preju- 
ice 
