Conquest is the premium given by nature to those national characters which their national customs have made most fit to win in war, and in many most material respects those winning characters are really the best characters.
This quote reflects Bagehot's belief that national customs influence the success of nations in warfare.
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More from Walter Bagehot
At last it strikes you that they grew up, house by house, on the devious tracks of the old green lanes; and if you follow on to the existing fields, you may often find the change half complete.
It is natural that those who by special and admirable culture have come to look at all things upon the artistic side, should start back from these queer peculiarities.
The lessons are good where its primitive assumptions hold, but may be false where those assumptions fail.
But it is natural also that persons used to analyse political institutions should look at these anomalies with a little tenderness and a little interest.
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