"--(III. 225.)
While admitting and exemplifying the great influence of moral causes,
Hume remarks--
"As to physical causes, I am inclined to doubt altogether of their
operation in this particular; nor do I think that men owe anything
of their temper or genius to the air, food, or climate."--(III.
227.)
Hume certainly would not have accepted the "rice theory" in explanation
of the social state of the Hindoos; and, it may be safely assumed, that
he would not have had recourse to the circumambience of the "melancholy
main" to account for the troublous history of Ireland. He supports his
views by a variety of strong arguments, among which, at the present
conjuncture, it is worth noting that the following occurs--
"Where any accident, as a difference in language or religion, keeps
two nations, inhabiting the same country, from mixing with one
another, they will preserve during several centuries a distinct and
even opposite set of manners. The integrity, gravity, and bravery
of the Turks, form an exact contrast to the deceit, levity, and
cowardice of the modern Greeks."--(III. 233.)
The question of the influence of race, which plays so great a part in
modern political speculations, was hardly broached in Hume's time, but
he had an inkling of its importance:--
"I am apt to suspect the Negroes to be naturally inferior to the
Whites. There scarcely ever was a civilised nation of that
complexion, nor even any individual, eminent either in action or
speculation.
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