28 HUME i 



that men owe anything of their temper or genius to the 

 air, food, or climate." (III. 227.) 



Hume certainly would not have accepted the 

 " rice theory " in explanation of the social state of 

 the Hindoos; and, it may be safely assumed, that 

 he would not have had recourse to the circum- 

 ambience of the " melancholy main " to account 

 for the troublous history of Ireland. He supports 

 his views by a variety of strong arguments, among 

 which, at the present conjuncture, it is worth 

 noting that the following occurs 



" Where any accident, as a difference in language or re- 

 ligion, keeps two nations, inhabiting the same country, 

 from mixing with one another, they will preserve during 

 several centuries a distinct and even opposite set of man- 

 ners. The integrity, gravity, and bravery of the Turks, 

 form an exact contrast to the deceit, levity, and cowardice 

 of the modern Greeks." (III. 233.) 



The question of the influence of race, which 

 plays so great a part in modern political specula- 

 tions, was hardly broached in Hume's time, but he 

 had an inkling of its importance: 



" I am apt to suspect the Negroes to be naturally in- 

 ferior to the Whites. There scarcely ever was a civilised 

 nation of that complexion, nor even any individual, eminent 

 either in action or speculation. . . . Such a uniform and 

 constant difference [between the negroes and the whites] 

 could not happen in so many countries and ages, if nature 

 had not made an original distinction between these breeds 

 of men. ... In Jamaica, indeed, they talk of one Negro as 

 a man of parts and learning ; but it is likely he is admired 

 for slender accomplishments, like a parrot who speaks a few 

 words plainly." (III. 236.) 



