ire nations; though we praise
the Athenians for their love of letters and honour of philosophy; the
Italians for their liberality towards art, and their worship of it while
a meaner glory was the fashion of the world; the Germans for their
speculative enterprise, and patience of research; and the Americans for
their reverence for intellect above military fame and the splendour of
wealth.--No high spiritual qualities have ever yet characterized a
nation, or even--in spite of much profession--any considerable
community. Hospitality and beneficence have distinguished some religious
societies: the non-resistance of Quakers, the industry of Moravians, and
of several kinds of people united on the principle of community of
property, may be cited: but this seems to be all. The enforced
temperance, piety, and chastity of monastic societies go for nothing in
this view; because, being enforced, they indicate nothing of the
sentiment subsequent to the taking of the vow. The people of the United
States have come the nearest to being characterized by lofty spiritual
qualities. The profession with which they set out was high,--a
circumstance greatly to their honour, though (as might have been
expected) they have not kept up to it. They are still actuated by
ambition of territory, and have not faith enough in moral force to rely
upon it, as they profess to do. The Swiss, in their unshaken and
singularly devoted love of freedom, seem to be spiritually distinguished
above other nations: but they have no other strong characteristic of
this highest class.

The truth is that, whatever may be the moral state of nations when the
human world emerges hereafter from its infancy, high spiritual qualities
are now matters of individual concern, as those of the intellectual
class were once; and their general prevalence is a matter of prospective
vision alone. Time was when the swampy earth resounded with the tramp
and splash of monstrous creatures, whom there was no reason present to
classify, and no language to name. Then, after a certain number of ages,
the earth grew drier; palm-groves and tropical thickets flourished where
Paris now stands; and the waters were collected into lakes in the
regions where the armies of Napoleon were of late encamped. Then came
the time when savage, animal man appeared, using his physical force like
the lower animals, and taught by the experience of its deficiency that
he was in possession of another kind of force. S