1€09.] 
pendence of mankind, raising up tyrants 
to oppress them all in the end, by be- 
ginning with the oppression of each otber. 
All this, my Lords, has arisen from neg- 
Jecting the cultivation of the moral sense, 
the best security of states, and the great- 
est consolation of the world. 
My Lords, I will trouble your Lord- 
ships no longer than with admitting, for 
the sake of the’ argument, that there nay 
be cases 
where the execution of the Bill may call 
for the exercise of high judiciai conside- 
ration, through the dignity and learning 
of the supreme court of criminal juris- 
diction. And here I cannot help saying, 
that it adds greatly to the security 1 feel 
upon this part of the subject, that when 
the Bill shall have received the sanction 
of Parliament, it will be delivered over 
to my noble and learned friend, who pre- 
sides so ably in the Court of King’s 
Bench. From his high authority, the: in- 
ferior magistracies will receive its just in- 
terpretation, and, from his manly and 
expressive eloquence, will be added, a 
most useful inculcation of its obligations: : 
for I must. once again impress upon 
your Lordships’ minds, the great, the 
incalculable effect of wise laws, when 
ably administered, upon the feelings 
aud morals of mankind. We may be 
said, my Lords, to be in a manner new 
created by them—Under the auspices of 
religion, in whose steps they must ever 
tread, to maintain the character of wis- 
dom, they make all the difference ~ be- 
tween the savages of the wilderness and 
the audience I am now addressing. The 
cruelties which we daily deplore, in chil- 
dren-and in youth, arise from detect if 
education, and that defect in education 
from the very defect in the law, which I 
ask your Lordships to remedy. From 
the moral sense of the parent re-ani- 
mated, or rather in this branch created 
by the law, the next generation will 
feel, in the first dawn of their ideas, the 
august relation they stand in to the lower 
world, and the trust which their station 
in the universe imposes on them; and it 
will not be left to a future Sterne to re- 
mind us, when we put aside even a harm- 
less insect, that the world is large enough 
for both. ‘This extension of benevolence 
to objects beneath us, become habitual 
by a sense of duty inculcated by law, 
will reflect back upon our sympathies to 
one another, so that I may venture to 
say firmly to your Lordships, that the 
Bill I propose to you, if it shall receive 
especially in the beginniny,- 
On the Ancient Germans. _ 365 
the sanction of Parliament, will not only 
be an honour to the country, but an era 
in the history of the world. 
Lord Erskine concluded with a few ob- 
servations, regarding the future progress. 
of the Billin the committee, waich are. 
not material to the principle of the law. 
‘ a 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
On the ANCIENT GERMANS, and the 
EFFECT produced upon their PRISTINE 
CHARACTER, by INTERCOURSE with the 
ROMANS, 
V {LERE a nation isnot entirely cut. 
off from all intercourse with other 
states, by its insulated position, the jea- 
lous vigilance of its rulers, or the bigoted 
attachment of its inhabitants to topical 
prejudices, as may be remarked in our 
days of the Japanese, the Hindus, and 
the Chinese—I say, where such obstacles 
present not their insurmountable barriers, 
it is impossible for the national cha-_ 
racteristic of any people to remain un- 
affected by the relayon in which that 
people must naturally stand with its 
contemporar ies. Certain features in the 
manners, opinions, and usaves of states, : 
which are connected in ithe remotest 
degree, and even by adventitious cir-- 
will be reciprocally trans. 
cumstances, 
ferred and "adopted, to an extent less 
discernible and preponderating in one 
case, than in another. 
Amongst the Germans, who have ever 
been famed for their hospitality ' and 
their avidity to explore foreign regions, 
we find the preceding observation for- 
cibly illustrated by the existing confor-: 
mation of their body and physiognomy ; 
that muscular and gigantic stature, almost 
invariably accompanied with blue eyes, 
and flaxen hair,* which struck the Ro- 
mans with awe and admiration, is now 
but seldom seen. ‘These have been suc- 
ceeded, either by the more diminutive form 
and auburn tresses of the Sciavonian 
or the dark eyes and hair of the French- 
man oe Italian; nor is the hour, per- 
haps, far remote, when the German will 
no longer be distinguished by a national: 
physiognomy. 
It may be safely presumed, that the 
several tribes, by which Germany was 
* It is a singular fact, that the Romana 
merchants who visited Germany, often bar- 
tered their wares tor the flaxen Jocks of its 
natives, which were introduced into the head- 
dress of the effeminate- descendants of Ro- 
mulus. Schmidt’s Geseb. “‘D, Teatseben. vol. i. 
page -14. 
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