Page:Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Buonaparte 11th ed - Richard Whately (1874).djvu/43

 Aristocratia to be a queen of Sparta? But we need not confine ourselves to hypothetical cases: it is positively stated that the Hindoos at this day believe "the honorable East India Company" to be a venerable old lady of high dignity, residing in this country. The Germans, again, of the present day derive their name from a similar mistake. The first tribe of them who invaded Gaul assumed the honorable title of "Ger-man" which signifies "warriors" (the words "war" and "guerre," as well as "man," which remains in our language unaltered, are evidently derived from the Teutonic), and the Gauls applied this as a name to the whole race.

However, I merely throw out these conjectures, without by any means contending that more plausible ones might not be suggested. But whatever supposition we adopt, or whether we adopt any, the objections to the commonly received accounts will remain in their full force, and imperiously demand the attention of the candid sceptic.

I call upon those, therefore, who profess themselves advocates of free inquiry,—who disdain to be carried along with the stream of popular opinion, and who will listen to no testimony that runs counter to experience,—to follow up their own principles fairly and consistently. Let the same mode of argument be adopted in all cases alike; and then it can no longer be attributed to hostile prejudice, but to enlarged and philosophical views. If they have already rejected some histories, on the ground of their being strange and marvellous,—of their relating facts unprecedented and at variance with the established course of nature,—let them not give credit to another history which lies open to the very same objections,—the