It  has  been  said  that  the  Germans  would  have  done  more  wisely  if
they  had  not  meddled  with  the  empire  ;  or  at  least,  if  they  had  first
worked  out  their  own  internal  political  institutions,  and  then,  with  matured
minds,  taken  part  in  the  general  affairs  of  Europe.  But  the  things  of  this
world  are  not  wont  "to  develop  themselves  so  methodically.  A  nation
is  often  compelled  by  circumstances  to  increase  its  territorial  extent,
before  its  internal  growth  is  completed.  For  was  it  of  slight  importance
to  its  inward  progress,  that  Germany  thus  remained  in  unbroken  con-
nexion with  Italy  ? — the  depository  of  all  that  remained  of  ancient  civilisa-
tion, the  source  whence  all  the  forms  of  Christianity  had  been  derived.  The
mind  of  Germany  has  always  unfolded  itself  by  contact  with  the  spirit  of
antiquity,  and  of  the  nations  of  Roman  origin.  It  was  from  the  contrasts
which  so  continually  presented  themselves  during  this  uninterrupted  con-
nexion, that  Germany  learned  to  distinguish  ecclesiastical  domination
from  Christianity.
