Introduction to Universal History (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1850. Excerpt: ... sibly have been confounded with the Grecian legends of the other. Political 19. Mythology, however, was not the only source of falsification in early history. Political Fictions contributed largely to the same effect. These tended to maintain among men the distinctions of Caste, of Eace, of Family, of Country, and of Faction; and thus created adverse interests and strong prejudices, utterly irreconcilable with the pure and simple love of truth, many of which, unfortunately, continue to operate at the present day, rendering it unsafe to give entire credit even to our best Historians. Distinction 20. The distinction of Caste divides the Members of the same civil community into portions separated from each other through all generations by impassable barriers, raising some to privileges almost supernatural, and degrading others below the common level of humanity. Alien as such an institution is to the habits and feelings of this nation, it prevailed for ages in some of the countries formerly most civilised, and still prevails among millions of subjects of the British Crown in India. That it should ever have existed in human society appears at first sight an inexplicable problem. A very able writer has suggested that it was first introduced by a race of conquerors, who formed themselves into a military Caste; but to us it appears more probable that the Priests first devised an institution so conducive to their power and influence. Superstition seems to have been its earliest, as it certainly was its most deep-laid basis. The individuals who first impressed on the savage mind new and striking notions of personal Deities owed their influence not solely to their doctrines, but to their superior knowledge of the powers of nature, which caused them to be regarded w...