INTEODUCTION. 15 



of mere habit, or if it is imposed by external power ; that 

 it may be more precious than life in the one case, and 

 more worthless than " salt which has lost its savour " in 

 the other. We have also learned to apply the same prin- 

 ciples to politics, and to recognise the truth that what are 

 in form the same institutions may be in reality quite dif- 

 ferent if they are imposed from viathout, from what they 

 would be if they were the spontaneous product of national 

 life. And in close connexion with this is the modern 

 sense of the educative value of political institutions and 

 political history ; in other words, their value, not only in 

 the transaction of national business and in promoting 

 outward national prosperity, but also in their influence on 

 national character. 



To conclude, I have in this Introduction briefly endea- Conclu- 

 voured to show that the chief and the most distinctive ^^°"' 

 intellectual characteristic of this age consists in the pro- 

 minence given to historical and genetic methods of re- 

 search, which have made history scientific and science 

 historical : whence has arisen the conviction that we cannot 

 really understand anything unless we know its origin ; and 

 whence we have also learned a more appreciative style of 

 artistic and moral criticism, a deeper distrust, dislike, and 

 dread of revolutionary methods, and a more intelligent 

 and profound love of both mental and political freedoni. 



