Among Reformers 49 



not the habit of self-government, and where the na 

 tional spirit is more volatile and less sane, each lit 

 tle group grows until it becomes a power for evil, 

 and, taken together, all the little groups give to 

 French political life its curious, and by no means 

 elevating, kaleidoscopic character. 



Macaulay's eminently sane and wholesome spirit 

 and his knowledge of practical affairs give him a 

 peculiar value among historians of political thought. 

 In speaking of Scotland at the end of the seventeenth 

 century he writes as follows : 



"It is a remarkable circumstance that the same 

 country should have produced in the same age the 

 most wonderful specimens of both extremes of hu 

 man nature. Even in things indifferent the Scotch 

 Puritan would hear of no compromise; and he was 

 but too ready to consider all who recommended pru 

 dence and charity as traitors to the cause of truth. 

 On the other hand, the Scotchmen of that genera 

 tion who made a figure in Parliament were the most 

 dishonest and unblushing time-servers that the 

 world has ever seen. Perhaps it is natural that the 

 most callous and impudent vice should be found in 

 the near neighborhood of unreasonable and imprac 

 ticable virtue. Where enthusiasts are ready to de 

 stroy or be destroyed for trifles magnified into im 

 portance by a squeamish conscience, it is not strange 

 that the very name of conscience should become a 



VOL. XII. -C 



