ts and popular government has been
influenced by the attitude of the Teutonic spirit toward government and
law.

_Teutonic Liberty_.--All writers recognize that the Germanic tribes
contributed the quality of personal liberty to the civilization of the
West. The Roman writers, in setting forth their own institutions, have
left a fair record of the customs and habits of the so-called
barbarians. Titus said of them: "Their bodies are, indeed, great, but
their souls are greater." Caesar had a remarkable method of eulogizing
his own generalship by praising the valor and strength of the
vanquished foes. "Liberty," wrote Lucanus, "is the German's
birthright." And Florus, speaking of liberty, said: "It is a privilege
which nature has granted to the Germans, and which the Greeks, with all
of their arts, knew not how to obtain." At a later period Montesquieu
was led to exclaim: "Liberty, that lovely thing, was discovered in the
wild forests of Germany." While Hume, viewing the results of this
discovery, said: "If our part of the world maintains sentiments of
liberty, honor, equity, and valor superior to the rest of mankind, it
owes these advantages to the seeds implanted by the generous
barbarians."

More forcible than all these expressions of sentiment are the results
of the study of modern historians of the laws and customs of the early
Teutons, and the tracing of these laws in the later civilization. This
shows facts of the vitalizing process of the Teutonic element. The
various nations to-day which speak the Teutonic languages, of which the
English is the most important, are carrying the burden of civilization.
These, rather than those overcome by a preponderance of Roman
influences, are forwarding the progress of the world.

_Tribal Life_.--Referring to the period of Germanic history prior to
the influence of the Romans on the customs, laws, and institutions of
the people, which transformed them from {284} wandering tribes into
settled nationalities, it is easy to observe, even at this time, the
Teutonic character. The tribes had come in contact with Roman
civilization, and many of them were already being influenced by the
contact. Their social life and habits were becoming somewhat fixed,
and the elements of feudalism were already prominent as the foundation
of the great institution of the Middle Ages. This period also embraces
the time when the tribes were about to take on the influence of the
Christian rel