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not forget that the institutions are only an external cause, 

 which is sustained by an internal cause character and 

 this is transmitted hereditarily. And as a people is per- 

 petuated by generation ; as it is a law of nature that like 

 shall produce like ; as the exceptions to this law tend to 

 disappear when large masses, instead of particular cases, are 

 examined, obvious facts point out how national character is 

 preserved by heredity." 



If we examine carefully the history of any nation, we 

 cannot but become impressed by the light it throws upon the 

 causes which have led to the people's progress or decline ; 

 and these causes undoubtedly have their origin and develop- 

 ment in the national character. How tenacious national 

 characters are may be seen from the history of the ancient 

 Greeks, Byzantines, and modern Greeks. " Thus," says 

 Ampere, " amid all these vicissitudes, the fundamental 

 character of the Greek has not changed ; he has now the 

 same qualities, the same defects, as of old." And as 

 showing how native characters and habits have been trans- 

 mitted, I need only point out that the Arcadians " still lead 

 a pastoral life;" whilst their neighbours, the Spartans, "have 

 a love for fighting, and an excitable, quarrelsome temper." 

 Surely the following description of our French neighbours, 

 from the pen of Julius Caesar, is as characteristic as if 

 written in the nineteenth century. " The Gauls," he says, 

 have a love of revolution ; they allow themselves to be led 

 by false reports into acts they afterwards regret, and into 

 decisions on the most important events ; they are depressed 

 by reverses ; they are as ready to go to war without cause, 

 as they are weak and powerless in the hour of defeat." The 

 history of every nation affords much information as to the 

 part played by heredity in the formation and perpetuation of 



