340 On National Character. 
his spirit; and hence it is probable the diver- 
sified characters of nations have arisen. 
Here a most important practical question 
arises; it has been stated that a nation so_ 
pertinaciously adheres to its early received 
maxis, and so uniformly pursues its first 
principles in conduct, that the same character 
ever presents itself. Hence some infer that 
a child of rude and uncivilized parents, taken 
from them at its birth, and brought up in the 
family of an intelligent, well bred European, 
would both in manners and in mental refine-~ 
ment appear as one of the family. The ques- 
tion to solve is this; would that consequence 
follow? I presume not. Education, I wil- 
lingly allow, refines, exalts and assimilates 
mankind; but no number of the most ap- 
proved and excellent schoolmasters, would be 
able to elevate a nation of savages to the 
rank even of Swedes or Germans in one ge- 
neration. I do not know that history affords 
us a precise example of this fact; but there 
are several which approach towards it, besides 
many decisive individual cases. Every colony 
of civilized persons settling among barbarians 
may be considered as a colony of school- 
masters ; but in what instance has a rapid 
civilization followed? ‘The ancient Germans 
lived almost under the walls of Rome, and 
