ENGLAND'S GREATNESS: ITS Rise and Progress IN GOVERNMENT, LAWS, RELIGION, AND SOCIAL LIFE; From the Earliest Period to the Peace of Paris. BY JOHN WADE, V.P. INSTITUT D'AFRIQUE (HISTORICAL SECTION), PARIS; AFTHOR OF THE HISTORY AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF THE PROI UCTIVE CLASSES ;' LONDON: The right of translation is reserved. PREFACE. THE science of Civilisation is varied and extensive. be viewed in relation either to a fixed and It may or to a progressive and Western, type of -under its onward aspect, whether Eastern, development; its range is limited or indefinite; or whether it a climax and prescribed period of meridian effulgence, receding into primitive torpor, rudeness, and barbaric violence. Comparatively it may be considered in relation to the superiority of modern Over ancient refinement; and next might be entertained the important problem on the more influential causes of national elevation. Are they most dependent on climate or race; on insular, continental, or other geographical position; or, in a greater degree than on any of these material influences, is a high and enduring state of public felicity most closely associated with the excellence of political and civil institutions, or of moral and religious dispensations? History, science, and classical learning afford ample elucidations of these several inquiries. But, |