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which surround it, as the country of thought; into how many noble actions has this thought been transformed! That to which the systems of Philosophers led the way is coming to pass, and the independence of mind is about to lay the foundation of the independence of nationa

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS.

THE origin of the principal nations of Europe may be traced to three great distinct races,-the Latin, the German, and the Sclavonic. The Italians, the French, the Spaniards, and the Portuguese, have derived their civilization and their language from Rome; the Germans, the Swiss, the English, the Swedes, the Danes, and the Hollanders, are Teutonic peoples;' the Poles and Russians occupy the first rank among the Sclavonic. Those nations whose intellectual culture is of Latin origin were the earliest civilized; they have for the most part inherited the quick sagacity of the Romans in the conduct of worldly affairs. Social institutions, founded on the Pagan religion, preceded among them the establishment of Christianity; and when the peoples of the North came to conquer them, those very peoples adopted in many respects the customs of the countries which they conquered.

These observations must no doubt be modified by reference. to climates governments, and the facts of each individual his tory. The ecclesiastical power has left indelible traces in Italy. Their long wars with the Arabs have strengthened the military habits and enterprising spirit of the Spaniards; but, generally speaking, all that part of Europe, of which the languages are derived from the Latin, and which was early initiated in the Roman policy, bears the character of a long-existing civilization of Pagan origin. We there find less inclination to abstract reflection than among the Germanic nations; they are more

1 This word, in the plural, which supplies a real need, may now be regarded as naturalized in the English language.-Ed.

addicted to the pleasures and the interests of the earth, and, like their founders, the Romans, they alone know how to practice the art of dominion.

The Germanic nations almost constantly resisted the Roman yoke; they were more lately civilized, and by Christianity alone; they passed instantaneously from a sort of barbarism to the refinement of Christian intercourse; the times of chivalry, the spirit of the middle ages, form their most lively recollections; and although the learned of these countries have studied the Greek and Latin authors more deeply even than the Latin nations themselves, the genius natural to German writers is of a color rather Gothic than classical. Their imagination delights in old towers and battlements, among sorceresses and spectres; and mysteries of a meditative and solitary nature form the principal charm of their poetry.

The analogy which exists among all the Teutonic nations is such as cannot be mistaken. The social dignity for which the English are indebted to their constitution, assures to them, it is true, a decided superiority over the rest; nevertheless, the same traits of character are constantly met with among all the different peoples of Germanic origin. They were all distinguished, from the earliest times, by their independence and loyalty; they have ever been good and faithful; and it is for this very reason, perhaps, that their writings universally bear an impression of melancholy; for it often happens to nations, as to individuals, to suffer for their virtues.

The civilization of the Sclavonic tribes having been of much later date and of more rapid growth than that of other peoples, there has been hitherto seen among them more imitation than originality: all that they possess of European growth is French; what they have derived from Asia is not yet sufficiently developed to enable their writings to display the true character which would be natural to them. Throughout literary Europe, then, there are but two great divisions strongly marked: the literature which is imitated from the ancients, and that which owes its birth to the spirit of the middle ages; that which in its origin received from the genius of Paganism its color and

its charm, and that which owes its impulse and development to a religion intrinsically spiritual.

It might be said, with reason, that the French and the Germans are at the two extremes of the moral chain; since the former regard external objects as the source of all ideas, and the latter, ideas as the source of all impressions. These two nations, nevertheless, agree together pretty well in their social relations; but none can be more opposite in their literary and philosophical systems. Intellectual Germany is hardly known to France: very few men of letters among us have troubled themselves about her. It is true that a much greater number have set themselves up for, her judges. This agreeable lightness, which makes men pronounce on matters of which they are ignorant, may appear elegant in talking, but not in writing. The Germans often run into the error of introducing into conversation what is fit only for books; the French sometimes commit the contrary fault of inserting in books what is fit only for conversation; and we have so exhausted all that is superficial, that, were it only for ornament, and, above all, for the sake of variety, it seems to me that it would be well to try something deeper.

For these reasons I have believed that there might be some advantage in making known that country in which, of all Europe, study and meditation have been carried so far, that it may be considered as the native land of thought. The reflections which the country itself and its literary works have suggested to me, will be divided into four sections. The first will treat of Germany and the Manners of the Germans; the second, of Literature and the Arts; the third, of Philosophy and Morals; the fourth, of Religion and Enthusiasm. These different. subjects necessarily fall into one another. The national character has its influence on the literature; the literature and the philosophy on the religion; and the whole taken together can only make each distinct part properly intelligible: it was necessary, notwithstanding, to submit to an apparent division, in Dider ultimately to collect all the rays in the same focus.

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I do not conceal from myself that I am about to make, in

literature as well as in philosophy, an exposition of opinions. foreign to those which are dominant in France; but, let them appear just or not, let them be adopted or combated, they will, at all events, yield scope for reflection. "We need not,

I imagine, wish to encircle the frontiers of literary France with the great wall of China, to prevent all exterior ideas from penetrating within.”

It is impossible that the German writers, the best-informed and most reflecting men in Europe, should not deserve a moment's attention to be bestowed on their literature and their philosophy. It is objected to the one, that it is not in good taste; to the other, that it is full of absurdities. It is possible, however, that there may be a species of literature not conformable to our laws of good taste, and that it may nevertheless contain new ideas, which, modified after our manner, would tend to enrich us. It is thus that we are indebted to the Greeks for Racine, and to Shakspeare for many of the tragedies of Voltaire. The sterility with which our literature is threatened may lead us to suppose that the French spirit itself has need of being renewed by a more vigorous sap; and as the elegance of society will always preserve us from certain faults, it is of the utmost importance to us, to find again this source of superior beauties.

After having rejected the literature of the Germans in the name of good taste, we think that we may also get rid of their philosophy in the name of reason. Good taste and reason are words which it is always pleasant to pronounce, even at random; but can we in good faith persuade ourselves that writers of immense erudition, who are as well acquainted with all

1 These commas are used to mark the passages which the censors of Paris required to be suppressed. In the second volume they discovered nothing reprehensible; but the chapters on Enthusiasm in the third, an 1, above all, the concluding paragraph of the work, did not meet their approbation. I was ready to submit to their censures in a negative manner; that is, by retrenching without making any further additions; but the gensdarmes, sent by the Minister of Police, executed the office of censors in a more brual manner, by tearing the whole book in pieces.

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