Show National oHAulcTERisTiCb' - NATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS Ntf student of human nature can doubt that surroundings and past associations have had immensely to do with the forming of national character Those traits of character which circumstances cherish in a nation become its national features Nations are jnsfc What they have been moulded Tho smartness dullness acuteness bravery docility intellectuality or practical character of a nation can always be traced either to its geographical position its climate and There is not an exception to fcccfnery or its history this rule in the features of any nation on the globe So much is this the case that the student of history in its enlarged sense can almost describe tho past history of a country from the present character of its inhabit- fonts while at the same time if given a locality on tho globe for the home of a people he could as clearly and correctly foretell whether that nation would be a highly commercial people or whether it would be less practical and mpre intellectual Very prominent among the causes mentioned fos inoulding1 the character of a pcfople are those of On account of the influence of Scenery and climate mountain are always hardy heroic a people Scenery and unsubduable There is as great a difference between a lowland nation and mountain bred people fos there is between the respective locations on which each dwells Wild mountain scenery inspires in the soul a love of freedom and an indisposition to conform to petty mechanical routine Such nations are never conquerable without a vast expenditure of blood and treasure and seldom then A love of excitement and romance and a fondness for feats of physical daring especially characterise the youthful portion of a mountain people These instincts of freedom and daring are not their own altogether they are the instincts of the scenes amid which they dwell The flattest tamest and most mechanical specimen of humanity that ever cringed would have been the same unconbeen the mounquerable being had his birth-plac- e tains and the traditions of a mountain race been his from birth While such are the effects of wild and romantic scenery the denizen of a valley or a wide low flat extent of country is as sure to be as many degrees lower in the temperature of his feelings as is the air lie breathes and he will be as much less excitable as the uniformity of the plain he daily surveys is less inThen qs to climate like spiring than mountain wilds an inspiration it seems to infuse its character into the The very being of those born under its influence southerner like tlief southern clime is always warm and impetuous while the northerner of Britain Ameri- ca Italy or France is always as much more slow and cool in judgment and action as his climate is more frigid and less spontaneous and productive An equal mild and genial climate will cherish a genial even flow of disposition and will stamp such characteristics on the very countenances of a community whilst ex- tremes of temperature will mark their influence in i changing and restless dispositions If eo much is effected by scenery' and climate geographical facilities have done as much moro to make nations just what they are — detaching some from the great highways of trade and insulating them in positions where their ideas could receive no change or ad- The extent of territory ditiou from foreign influence presenting opportunities for change of location and personal independence as in the case of America Im ‘ fostered and kept alive those feelings and' characteristics for which the American representative of the ' AugloS axon race is so remarkable Ilis love of freedom and unbounded liberty is as much an inspiration flowing from the immense extent of country over which lie roams as anything else yLet the subject of :ldngly or ducal despotism come to piis country and it docs not take above one generation to produce in him or his descendants' as great a sjVJeimen of freedom-- " joying humanity as the' native American himself Look at the mild placid and contented Dane' de-- r scendant as- he is of a wild and race that ravaged the seas and exacted tribute on the land what has moulded his present traits ? An open sea- board in times when surrounding nations were weak led to liis predatory life in ancient times The seaside and mighty deep swelling on his shores moulded him' into the hardy seaman and he took into his composition the character of the wild Baltic Sea oyer which he sailed ‘on his work of death and conquest Tho rise of mighty nationalities however around his coast repressed his love for such adventures and ages of seclusion and monotony have produced the quiet and y gentle hut honest and enduring Dane of Equally a character of circumstances is the Germah-Il- e is a highly studious’ bein$ and a lover of social life He posses an immense love of home ties and is never without a grand theory of His dreamy stuuniversal brotherhood in his brain dious nature has partially been the result of the ab-- " scnce of his country from the highways of the com- -' mercial world He has thus had time for thought and the’ development of abstract ideas hence he has worked at mental conceptions till Germarmetaphysics1 have become a proverb Again liis is' a land of hill and dale and inspiring scenery with loVely secluded groves- Where liis meditative nature has been fed and His climate lias no extremes but peaceful fostered alterations follow' each other in mild succession moulding and cherishing a peaceful flow of ideas and the face-Thpeaceful cast of character as stamped upon liis a: call would of some in wliat German the want practical cast of character can be traced to liis situa-- ’ tion in the interior of a continent with scarcely a single harbor or mile of sea coast to draw' out his energies as a navigator or trader hence Germany is not a nation of merchant princes or adventurers because the facilities for commerce or enterprise are too far out of the Whilst the German’s love of way to be inviting unity and home associations has been cherished by tho petnanence of his family relations in cue fixed locality a subject of permanent dynasties developing in him an immense love of home and liomesfead so his great conceptions of brotherhood have been fostered by the idea of unity expressed in the combination of the great family ot States in wdiich he lives Yet right on the back of the love of brotherhood and peaceful relations— so Strong in the German — there slumbers in liis character an independence and warlike feeling when that sense of independence is touched hence the curious mixture of soldier and scholar seen in the German student The first to turn out in mili-tary attitude whenever any question of national right is involved Heady at any moment for a big fight or The warlike spirit of the youth of a big study Germany so strangely contrasting with their studious4 vocations can be traced to the warlike Origin of the race— to grand traditions of empire possessed by their' family and to the historical association of their name’ with every movement in behalf of independent speech and thought in a vrord the past history and geo- ! 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