Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 65, No. 399, January 1849

BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.
VOL. LXV.
JANUARY—JUNE, 1849.
WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH; AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 1849.
BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
No. CCCXCIX. JANUARY, 1849. Vol. LXV.
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BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
No. CCCXCIX. JANUARY, 1849. Vol. LXV.
That God will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children was proclaimed to the Israelites amidst the thunders of Mount Sinai, and has been felt by every succeeding generation of men. But it is not now upon the third or the fourth generation that the punishment of transgression falls—it is felt in its full bitterness by the transgressors themselves. The extension of knowledge, the diffusion of education, the art of printing, the increased rapidity of travelling, the long duration of peace in consequence of the exhaustion of former wars, have so accelerated the march of events, that what was slowly effected in former times, daring several successive generations, by the gradual development of national passions, is now at once brought to maturity by the fervent spirit which is generally awakened, and the vehement passions which are everywhere brought into action.