596 The Criminal Law of the Future, [September, 
of a criminal type of population. It delivered over to the 
hangman a poor woman whose husband had been carried off 
by a pressgang, and who had stolen a loaf to feed her 
famishing children ; but it left the sons of the highwayman 
and the burglar free from all surveillance , and could see in 
them nothing different from its most orderly and virtuous 
citizens. 
Fortunately a great European nation has shown us how, 
by a consistent course of severity, steadily carried out, any 
given class of a community may be stamped out. No one 
can fail to be struck with the utter lack of mental eminence 
among the Spanish people during the present century. 
Neither in the pra< 5 tical nor in the theoretical sphere have 
they reached anything beyond mediocrity. If we turn to 
the history of discovery and invention, the development of 
the sciences, and their applications in industry, Spain finds 
there no place. She is eclipsed even by Denmark and Swit- 
zerland, whose joint populations do not reach the fourth of 
hers, but who out of such small numbers have produced 
men with whom she has nothing to compare. It is the 
same in speculative philosophy and imaginative literature, 
the same in statesmanship and in war. The reasofi of this 
is not far to seek. It cannot be traced to any original want 
of vigour and energy in the national character. There was 
a time when no people on earth could surpass the Spaniards 
in these attributes. Nor is it, as some foolishly urge, to be 
traced to the enervating influence of the treasures obtained 
from Mexico and Peru. Britain, America, and Russia, we 
see, have not been enfeebled in energy and intelligence in 
consequence of the gold discovered in Australia, California, 
or the Ural. The true cause is this — that for more than 
two successive centuries the Spanish nation was subjected 
to a most careful and systematic process of “ selection ” — 
we can scarcely call it “ natural ” — by the Holy Inquisition. 
Every man who towered above his fellows, either by force 
of character, mental grasp, or by an enquiring disposition, 
became an objeCt of dislike, and sooner or later was disposed 
of by death, by incarceration, or by banishment. The 
search after anything new was substantially interdicted. 
Those only were safe who, beyond satisfying the animal 
wants of their system, went duly to mass and to the bull- 
fight, and in all things else took the world easily. The 
consequence has been the condition of Spain such as we 
now perceive. This consideration is exceedingly significant. 
It is a most powerful evidence of the heredity of talent and 
of force of character. It may well be concluded, hence, 
