FEUDAL SYSTEM, a form of gov ernment anciently subsisting in Europe, and which, about twelve centuries ago, was so universally received, that Spel man calls it "the law of nations in our western world." The origin of this system, is to be found in the military policy of the Celtic or northern nations, known by the names of Goths, Vandals, Franks, II uns, and Lombards, who overran Europe on the declension of the Roman empire, and brought it with them. from the countries out of which they emigrated. According to the feudal scheme, a victorious leader allotted considerable portions of land, called feoda, fiefs, or feuds, to his princi pal officers, who in their turn, divided their p essessions among their inferiors; and the condition upon which these re wards were given, was that of faithful military service both at home and abroad. To this they engaged themselves by an oath of fealty ; in the event of a breach of which, either by not performing the service agreed upon, or by deserting their lord in time of battle, LT., the lands were to return to their original possessor. Every person, therefore, who was a feuda tory, i. c. who had received lands, was bound to do everything in his power to defend the lord of his fee; while, on the other hand, the latter seas no less subor dinate to his immediate superior ; and so on up to the prince himself. Thus the several orders of vassals formed a system of concentric circles, of which each was under the influence of the next, and all moved around a common centre, the king, as the supreme feudal lord. As there was a graduated scale from the lowest vassal to the prince or lord paramount of the territory, every man's interest was in the security of the whole; and every man was a pledge of security to his neighbor. In the midst of that dis interestedness of sentiment which belongs to a rude state of society, the connection of the lord and his vassal was of a salu tary nature ; and, as is the end of all social combinations, each individual con tributed to support that strength by which he was protected. But besides these feudal grants, which were held only on the terms of military service above mentioned, there were others called alio dial, which were given upon more en larged principles. To these every free man had a title, and could not only claim his territory as well as the rest, but dis pose of it at his pleasure. A part of their freedom consisted in liberty to go to the wars ; for this, in the times to which we are referring, was the only way to acquire any degree of renown. Only the serfs or villeins, were destined to follow the arts of peace. The feudal vassals, properly so called, constituted the army ; while tho national militia was composed of the allodial proprietors. It has, however, often been argued, that the bare theory' ' of feudal government, as a permanent in stitution, however fair-seetning, is hol low ; that the family connection it sup poses could be but a source of minute, domestic tyranny ; and that in their best period, the customs enumerated must have been liable to the grossest abuse. In process of time, the evil increased to an enormous height, ; and even the polit ical value of the system decayed. In its vigor, it had at lentil constituted a regu ' powerful, and compact system of gov ernment ; a unanimity had pervaded the various departments of the state ; and while the power was internally diffused, it presented to foreign nations a united and formidable front. As the ideas en gendered by property advanced, and the great grew more avaricious of money than of glory ; and when, it ought perhaps to be added, man's notions of right and order became more correct, nothing was heard of but the enormities of the power ful, and tire sufferings of the humbler classes ; and the strength of feudal gov ernment declined amidst a spirit of dis affection too universal to be checked—.
Mr. Hallam in his work on the Middle Ages, ably exhibits a picture of the ad vantages and disadvantages of the feudal system If, says he, wo look at the feu dal polity as a scheme of civil freedom, it bears a noble countenance. To the feudal law it is owing, that the very names of right and privilege were not swept away, es in Asia, by the desolating hand of power. Time tyranny which, on every favorable moment. was breaking through all barriers, would have rioted without control, if. when the people were poor and disunited, the nobility had not been brave and free. So fares the sphere of feudality extended, it diffused the spirit of liberty, and the notions of private right. The bulk of the people, it is true, were degraded by servitude ; but this had no connection with the feudal tenures. As a. school of moral discipline, the feudal in stitutions were perhaps most to be valued. Society had sunk, for several centuries after the dissolution of the Roman em pire, into a condition of open depravity ; where, if any vices could be selected as more eminently characteristic than others, they were falsehood, treachery, and ingratitude. In slowly purging off the lees of this extreme corruption, the feudal spirit exerted its ameliorating in fluence. Violation of faith stood first in the catalogue of crimes most repugnant to the very essence of feudal tenure, most severely and promptly avenged, most branded by general infamy. The feudal law-books breathe throughout a spirit of mutual obligation. The feudal course of jurisdiction promoted, what trial peers is peculiarly calculated to promote, a keener feeling and a readier perception of moral as well as of legal distinctions. And as the judgment and sympathy of mankind are seldom mistaken in these great points of veracity and justice, except through the temporary success of crimes or the wants of a definite standard of right, they gradually recovered themselves, when law precluded the one and supplied the other. In the reciprocal services of lord and vassal, there was ample scope for every magnanimous and disinterested energy. The heart of man when placed in circumstances which have a tendency to excite them, will seldom he deficient in such sentiments. No occasions could be more favorable, than the protection of a faithful supporter, or the defence of a beneficent suzerain, against such powerful aggression, as left little prospect except of sharing in his ruin. From these feelings, engendered from the feudal relation, has sprung up the peculiar sentiment of per sonal reverence and attachment towards a sovereign, which we denominate boy alty ; alike distinguishable from the stu pid devotion of eastern slaves, and from the abstract respect with which free citi zens regard their chief magistrate. Men who had been used to swear fealty, to profess subjection, to follow, at home and in the field, a feudal superior and his family, easily transferred the same alle giance to the monarch. It was a very powerful feeling which could make the bravest men put up with slights and ill tre atment at the hands of their sovereign ; or call forth all the energies of disinter ested exertion for one whom they never saw, or in whose character there was nothing to esteem. In ages when the rights of the community were unfelt, this sentiment was one great preservative of society ; and though collateral or even subservient to more enlarged principles, it is still indispensable to the tranquillity and permanence of every monarchy.