undance of new knowledge which was infused by science
into the life of the highly educated was dangerous to the character in
one respect. The German learnt to understand the almost endless
varieties of character of foreign nations; the most dissimilar kinds of
culture became clear to him. Impartially, and with lively interest, did
he enter into the policy of Tiberius, and the enthusiasm of Loyola, the
gradual development of slavery in North America, and the pedantries and
dreams of Robespierre. He was, therefore, in danger, in his considerate
judgment, of forgetting the moral basis of his own life. He who would
identify himself with so many foreign minds, needs not only the
capacity to grasp the minds of others, but still more the power to keep
himself free from the influence exercised over him by foreign
conditions of life. He who would without prejudice estimate the
relative value of a foreign point of view, must first know how to
maintain firmly the moral foundation of his own life. This can only be
effected by making his own will subservient to the duty of co-operating
with his contemporaries, by joining in free associations, by a free
press, and by continuous participation in the greatest political
conceptions of his time. It was because the Prussians, whose capital at
this time was the centre of German philosophy, were deprived of this
regulator, that the cultivated minds of this period acquired a peculiar
weakness of character, which will appear strange to the next
generation.

This weakness of will was indeed no new failing of the educated German.
It was the two hundred years' malady of a people which had no
participation in the State, and, from its natural disposition, was not
carried away by the impulse of passion, but composedly deliberates on
action, and is seldom prevented by vehement excitement from forming a
moderate judgment. But in the first part of our century their old
weakness became particularly striking amidst these rich treasures of
knowledge. Oftener than formerly did the originality of a foreign form
of life produce an overpowerful influence on them. Instead of
withstanding some mighty influence, it might be that of Metternich,
Byron, or Eugene Sue, popery, socialism, or Polish patriotism, being
foreign, they yielded to its prestige, their own judgment being
vacillating and uncertain. Though it was easy for the best amongst them
to talk cleverly upon the most dissimilar subjects, it was difficul