ok the form of a war unequalled in history
for its fierce and determined malignancy, the whole nation tearing itself
in pieces in a quarrel in which no principle was at stake, and no national
object was to be gained. A more terrible misfortune never befel either this
or any other country, and it was made possible only in virtue of that
loyalty with which the people followed the standard, through good and evil,
of their feudal superiors. It is still a question, however, whether the
good or the evil of the system predominated; and the answer to such
question is the more difficult because we have no criterion by which, in
these matters, degrees of good and evil admit of being measured. Arising
out of the character of the nation, it reflected this character in all its
peculiarities; and there is something truly noble in the coherence of
society upon principles of fidelity. Fidelity of man to man is among the
rarest excellences of humanity, and we can tolerate large evils which arise
out of such a cause. Under the feudal system men were held together by
oaths, free acknowledgments, and reciprocal obligations, entered into by
all ranks, high and low, binding servants to their masters, as well as
nobles to their kings; and in the frequent forms of the language in which
the oaths were sworn we cannot choose but see that we have lost something
in exchanging these ties for the harsher connecting links of mutual
self-interest.

"When a freeman shall do fealty to his lord," the statute says, "he shall
hold his right hand upon the book, and shall say thus:--Hear you, my lord,
that I shall be to you both faithful and true, and shall owe my faith to
you for the land that I hold, and lawfully shall do such customs and
services as my duty is to you, at the times assigned, so help me God and
all his saints."

"The villain," also, "when he shall do fealty to his lord, shall hold his
right hand over the book, and shall say:--Hear you, my lord, that I from
this day forth unto you shall be true and faithful, and shall owe you
fealty for the land which I hold of you in villanage; and that no evil or
damage will I see concerning you, but I will defend and warn you to my
power. So help me God and all his saints."[11]

Again, in the distribution of the produce of land, men dealt fairly and
justly with each other; and in the material condition of the bulk of the
people there is a fair evidence that the system worked efficiently and
well. It wor