The History of Great Britain from the First Invasion of It by the Romans Under Julius Caesar, 1; From the First Invasion of It by the Romans Under Julius Caesar. Written on a New Plan (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1788. Excerpt: ... THE HISTORY O F GREAT BRITAIN. BOOK I. . CHAP. III. The hijlory of the constitution, governments and laws os Great Britain, from the frji invasion of it by the Romans, under Julius Caesar, A. A. C. $$, to the arrival os the Saxons9 A. D. 449. SECTION I. A brief account of the names, situations, limits, and other circumstances of the several nations which inhabited Great Britain before it was invaded and conquered by the Romans; and of the changes that were made in the state of these nations, and of their country, by that conquest. N EXT to the laws and sanctions of reli- The great gion, those of civil government have the TMf i DEGREESs on greatest influence on the manners and characters manners. of nations, as well as on their fortunes and external ternal circumstances. On the one hand, wife and equitable laws, a mild, prudent, and steady administration, contribute very mueh to render a people wife and virtuous, as well as great and happy: on the other hand, unjust and oppressive constitutions, a cruel and despotic exercise of authority, tend as much to debase their minds as to depress their fortunes, to make them worthless as to make them wretched. It is impossible therefore to form just ideas of the character and manners of any people, in any period of their history, or to account for them, without an attentive investigation of the constitution of their government, the nature and spirit of their laws, the forms of their judicial proceedings, and other particulars of their police. For these are the great hinges on which both the characters and fortunes of nations have always turned. Whenever any remarkable revolution hath happened in the constitution and government of any people, either for the better or the worse, that revolution hath always been attended, or very soon followed,