304 
sical change to have taken place: the 
wild animal becomes tame, and imparts 
its acquired disposition, and thus it at- 
tains an hereditary stability. In this 
way, civilization is effected. An in- 
crease of wants, natural or artificial, 
calls forth new feelings and new dispo- 
sitions, which generate a new character ; 
and this, experience teaches us, will, in 
a few generations, become hereditary; 
and an appropriate station in society 
is filled. Civilization could not exist, 
if acquired dispositions did not become 
hereditary. Were all children born 
with one constitutional character, with 
that, for instance, of a New Zealander, 
or an American Indian, in that state 
the world would ever remain. The cir- 
cumstance of education is not sufficient 
to effect a change from harbarism to re- 
finement; it must be aided by the here- 
ditary propensity. The young of a par- 
tridge, however brought up and trained, 
are wild, and so would be the children 
of a barbarian. 
To avoid the imputation of confound- 
ing hereditary dispositions with early 
impressions, I again appeal to analogy. 
An animal which has been domesticated, 
and has an hereditary tameness, has 
also an hereditary disposition and cha- 
racter, proper to its species and to it- 
self. A kitten, bred in a barn, is not 
wild, but is very unlike, in disposition, to 
a kitten made the plaything of children. 
The docility of the one, and the shyness 
of the other, arises from early impres- 
sions made on the instinctive faculty, 
and is accidental; but the disposition to 
domestication is hereditary: and this, 
both have in an equal degree. Reverse 
their bringing up, and that which is do- 
cile would be shy, but still would retain 
the hereditary disposition to domesti- 
cation: the degree of docility is acci- 
dental, the domestic disposition here- 
ditary. 
We haye, also, illustrations of the same 
combination of influences in the history 
of onr own race. The Jesuits formed 
the inhabitants of Paraguay into regular 
settlements; children were born and 
educated there, and the whole esta- 
blishment obtained, even from Voltaire, 
the character of being highly moral, and 
very amiable and unottending; — but 
when the Jesuits were driven away, the 
people dispersed, and, dividing them- 
selves into tribes, buried their former 
habits and avocations. The hereditary 
disposition, the original character, pre- 
vailed over early impressions and the 
Influence of Early Impressions on the Future Character. 
[May 1, 
influence of education. The people had 
not been a sufficient time under the 
government of the Jesuits for a physical 
change to have been effected; and, 
therefore, a disposition to civilization 
had not become hereditary, and was not 
propagated: it died with that gene- 
ration, 
Another similar illustration, I borrow 
from the irruption of the barbarians 
into Europe. Greece, from that period 
to the present, has been trodden down 
and degraded; she became ignorant, 
but not barbarous; her hereditary cha- 
racter never died: for at the watch- 
word of liberty the nation rose, and 
rivalled, in patriotic deeds, the feats of 
their most splendid days. Spain and 
Algiers have never been so much op- 
pressed, nor so highly civilized; and, 
therefore, feel not like Grecians.. In 
early impressions they, probably, are 
not very dissimilar; but their hereditary 
dispositions place them on different 
levels. 
But I must hasten to the third influ- 
ence on character—Education. Men 
of every country are capable, almost 
equally capable, of receiving instruction.. 
A Russian may be made as good-a 
classic as an Englishman; for the me- 
mory is equally good in both, and in- 
struction is little more than an appeal 
to this faculty. But information is not 
civilization. The Madagascar lads, be- 
fore mentioned, will return home well 
informed ; but their civilization will, in 
a_great measure, be the same as) when 
they landed in this country. Their 
habits and their pleasures will be those 
of Madagascar: their education will be 
only so far valuable as it will enable 
the people to supply. their wants, 
if they have any unsupplied. \ Their 
knowledge will not make them English: 
in feeling and in character they are Ma- 
dagascan; and education cannot eradi- 
cate the character. To illustrate more 
fully my meaning, I select. two sons of 
agentleman who have received the same 
early impressions. ‘Phe one shall recetye 
a finished, the other a plain edueation : 
and I ask if the difference thus clfected 
will not be more in the manners than in 
the judgment of the individual? Edu- 
cation is relied upon as a remedy for all 
the errors of the bringing-up; but its 
influence is superficial, and is borne 
down by early impressions, or hereditary 
dispositions: it. gives an artificial, ra- 
ther than an actual character, “The 
polish of the gentleman may be added 
yo 
