ds in the free North. They were a
rude, and even savage people, with no fixed ideas of property, but
living by hunting and pasturage, and driving their herds from one region
to another as necessity required. The most marked and distinctive
feature in their character, and that which played the most conspicuous
part in the social and political drama of the following centuries of
development, was their personal independence--their almost absolute
individuality, as the result, we believe, of their superior native
physical constitution.

They had little or no cooeperation in their own country; no combination
of civil interests; no settled government. They were apt for adventure,
and readily formed into bands of roving warriors; and when pressed
forward by the tide of warlike immigration from the East, they conquered
the Roman Empire, and divided the lands among themselves. German
magnates courted followers in their own country by hospitality, by
presents of horses and arms; but in the conquered countries, by grants
of land for military service. These grants were at first made during
pleasure, then for life, and at length they became hereditary.
(Robertson.) In this manner it appears that the feudal system
originated--a system which grew into such magnificent proportions in
Middle and Western Europe. It was, however, a growth which was five
centuries in maturing. (Hallam.)

A curious circumstance, connected with its development, deserves to be
noticed, as showing that certain rights, however desirable, and even
sacred they may seem to be, must succumb to the prevailing order,
however undesirable that system or order might, under other
circumstances, appear to be. Allodial lands, or those held in the right
of the individual, and for which there was no obligation of service,
except in the general defence, were at length swallowed up by the feudal
system. In those days of universal anarchy, rapine, and oppression, the
rule of might and unrestrained selfishness prevailed to such an extent,
that small proprietors, having no means of defence against the strong,
were compelled to surrender their allodial title for a feudal one, and
do homage to the neighboring lord for the sake of protection. And to
such an extent did the abasement of allodial privileges prevail, that it
came at length to be recognized as a principle that the feudal
arrangement was the only legitimate one; whereupon allodial lands were
seized with impunity, and ap