124
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book I.
alone with his family, or to the same man and
family, in a bond of union with others, that is in
the state.
Could we conceive a permanent condition of
society, such that each particular family lived
apart, without connection or communion with
others, we must admit the inevitable growth of a
patriarchal system, of which the eldest member of
the family would be the head ; a system similar to
that which we do find described as prevailing in
the wandering family of Abraham. But such a
condition could only exist at a period of time, and
in a state of the earth, which admitted of frequent
migration, and while the population bore a small
proportion to the means of support, perhaps even
in countries where water is of greater value than
land. Thus the moment the family of Abraham
became too numerous, and his herdsmen found it
necessary to defend their wells and pastures against
the herdsmen of Lot, a separation took place and
the Scheiks parted, according to the provisions of
a solemn compact, that there might not be strife
between them1. But, setting aside the mysterious
purposes for which the race of Abraham were made
wanderers, and which impress an exceptional cha-
racter upon their whole history, it is clear that
even they were surrounded by a society, whose con-
ditions were totally different from any that could
have existed in Germany. They fled from the face
of a depraved cultivation, prevalent in the cities,
* Genesis xiii. 6, seq.
CH. V.]
THE FREEMAN. THE NOBLE.
125
and they were sojourners only from place to place,
till the fulness of time, when they were to found
the normal theocracy of the world.
To a certain degree they resembled the squatters
in the backwoods of America ; like them, they esta-
blished a law for themselves, and acted upon it:
.—with the nature of that law, divine or human, we
have nothing to do, for the purposes of this in-
quiry :—in this sense, indeed, they could be kings
and priests in their own house ; but so are, or were,
the North American Hegulators, who, in their own
families and among all over whom they could esta-
blish their power, acted as judges, and both pro-
mulgated and executed a law which was necessary
to their very existence in the widerness.
But I find it impossible to admit that the origin
of our Germanic nations is to be found in any such
solitary households or families ; were it true, as
Moser appears to argue1, of some parts of West-
phalia, it would not be so of other districts in
southern Germany, as he indeed admits2, and,
particularly, it would not be true of England. In
these two cases there can be no doubt that some
kind of military organization preceded the peace-
ful settlement, and in many respects determined
its mode and character3. But, even if we admit
1 Osnab. Qesch. i. § 2. 3 Ibid. i. §. 7.
3 There cannot be any doubt respecting England, where the
Germanic race are not autochthonous. The organization of the Suevi
may be Ieamt from Caesar (Bell. Gall. iv. 1,2,3), and Moser very
justly observes that the Swabian law must necessarily have differed
from the Saxon. Osnab. Gesch. i. § 7. So, to a certain degree, must
the Anglosaxon from both.