( 314 ) 



of liberal fentimcnt * " in the inftitutions of the Saxon 

 government ; but intimates that from the moment the 

 Normans appeared, all was defpotifm, Thofe who will 

 attentively confider the Saxon inftitutions, wichout pre- 

 judice, will difcover, that thofe inftitutions are framed 

 with a regard to equality of rights-]-, which will fcarcely 

 be found in any Greek or Roman code ; and at the fame 

 time with an anxious attention to order and good govern- 

 ment, and efpecially to the prefervation of the public 

 peace in a wild uncultivated country : that the influence 

 of the Saxon eftablifhments ftill pervades the whole fyftem 

 of our government : that it has formed the happinefs of 

 this country for a period of near a thoufand years ; and, 

 if experience of the paft can enable us to judge of the 

 future, will form it's happinefs through the courfe of 

 fucceeding ages, perhaps as long ae the country itfelf 

 (hall endure. Ignorant, or ungrateful, we refufe to our 

 German progenitors the acknowledgment, that to their 

 plain good fenfe, their love of liberty, their love of order, 

 and their love of juftice, emerging from a ft ate of ex- 

 treme rudenefs, we owe almoft all the bleflings of the 

 government we enjoy ; whilft a foreigner, obferving us 

 only from a diftance and imperfeUy, has traced our 

 happinefs from it's true fource, and juffly exclaims, " Ce 

 " beau fyfteme a etc trouve dans les bois." (Montefq. 

 de 1'efprit des loix, liv. ii. c. 6.) All that has been 



* Vol. ii. page 10. 



j- The exiftence of perfonal flavery among the Saxons, may 

 be confidered as derogating from the truth of this aflertion. 

 But perfonal flavery prevailed in a greater extent in the Greek 

 and Roman republics ; and it fubfifts in the Britifh Weft India 

 iflands. In Europe it has principally yielded to the influence 

 f Christianity, 



3 done 



