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*/ +ul { + line-height: 1.7; + margin:1em; +} + +ul.none { + list-style-type:none; + padding: 0px; +} + +.ad +{ + line-height: 1.7; + margin:1em; + font-style:italic; +} + +.ad span.nor {font-style: normal;} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes { + border: dashed 1px; + margin-top:1em; + clear:both;} + +.footnotes ol { + margin-left:0; margin-right:0; + padding:0; + width:100%; + list-style-type:none; +} + +.footnote { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + width:80%; + margin-bottom:0.75em; + font-size: 0.9em; + position:relative;} + +.footnote .label { + position: absolute; + left:-3em; top:0; + text-align:left;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: baseline; + position:relative; bottom:0.4em; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:5%; + width:90%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + margin-top: .5em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + +.poem span.i11 { + display: block; + margin-left: 11em; + margin-bottom: .5em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem p.citation { + width: 20em; + text-align: right; +} + + hr.full { width: 100%; + margin-top: 3em; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + height: 4px; + border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */ + border-style: solid; + border-color: #000000; + clear: both; } + pre {font-size: 85%;} + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h1 class="pg">The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of +Races, by Arthur, comte de Gobineau</h1> +<pre> +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races</p> +<p> With Particular Reference to Their Respective Influence in the Civil and Political History of Mankind</p> +<p>Author: Arthur, comte de Gobineau</p> +<p>Release Date: August 17, 2011 [eBook #37115]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY OF RACES***</p> +<p> </p> +<h3>E-text prepared by Fritz Ohrenschall, Sarah Thomson,<br /> + and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br /> + (http://www.pgdp.net)</h3> +<p> </p> +<div class="note" style="margin-bottom: 3em;"> +<a name="TN" id="TN"></a><h1 class="center">Transcriber's Note:</h1> + +<p class="center">Skip to <a href="#PREFACE">Editor's Preface</a> or list of <a href="#TOC">Contents</a></p> + +<ul> + <li>Minor corrections are marked in the text with <ins class="correction">a dotted under-line</ins>. Hover the cursor over the underlined text and the nature of the correction should appear.</li> + <li>Greek transliterations are marked with <ins class="greek">a dashed under-line</ins>.</li> + <li>Additional HTML links have been added to the Contents list for ease of navigation</li> + <li> + <a title="Go to Footnote 39" href="#Footnote-39">Footnote 39:</a> Original: "...(See Roland on the same subject with St. Palay.") Author has likely converted '--' to parenthesis - I have moved the terminal quotation mark outside the parenthesis.</li> + <li><a title="Go to Footnote 59" href="#Footnote-59">Footnote 59:</a> Original: "...'When three of us are together, the Triad is among us.' Terminating " added.</li> + <li><a title="Go to Footnote 195" href="#Footnote-195">Footnote 195:</a> Standardized the Translator's ititials to "--H."</li> + <li>Inconsistent use of law-giver vs. lawgiver was made consistent as "law-giver".</li> + <li>All other inconsistencies, variant spellings, and a large number of mis-quoted references have been preserved.</li> +</ul> +</div> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2><small>THE</small><br /><br /> +MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL<br /><br /> +<big>DIVERSITY OF RACES.</big></h2> + +<p class="center break"><small>THE</small><br /><br /> +MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL<br /><br /> +<big>DIVERSITY OF RACES,</big></p> + +<p class="center"><small>WITH</small><br /><br /> + +PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THEIR RESPECTIVE INFLUENCE<br /> +IN THE CIVIL AND POLITICAL HISTORY OF MANKIND.<br /><br /> + +<small>FROM THE</small><br /><br /> + +FRENCH OF COUNT A. DE GOBINEAU:<br /><br /><br /> + +<small>WITH AN<br /><br /> + +ANALYTICAL INTRODUCTION AND COPIOUS HISTORICAL NOTES.</small><br /><br /> + +<big><em class="smcap">By</em> H. HOTZ.</big><br /><br /><br /> + +TO WHICH IS ADDED AN APPENDIX CONTAINING A SUMMARY<br /> +OF THE LATEST SCIENTIFIC FACTS BEARING UPON THE<br /> +QUESTION OF UNITY OR PLURALITY OF SPECIES.<br /><br /> + +<big><em class="smcap">By</em> J. C. NOTT, M. D.,</big><br /> + +<small>OF MOBILE.</small><br /><br /><br /> + +PHILADELPHIA:<br /> +<big>J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.</big><br /> +1856.</p> + +<hr /> + +<p class="center">Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by<br /><br /> + +J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO.,<br /><br /> + +in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United<br /> +States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.</p> + +<hr /> + +<h3><small>TO THE</small><br /><br /> + +STATESMEN OF AMERICA,</h3> + +<p class="center"><span style="font-family:'Old English Text MT',sans-serif; font-size:150%;">This Work,</span><br /><br /> + +THE FIRST ON THE RACES OF MEN CONTEMPLATED FROM THE<br /> +POINT OF VIEW OF THE STATESMAN AND HISTORIAN<br /> +RATHER THAN THE NATURALIST,<br /><br /> + +<small>IS</small><br /><br /> + +RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED<br /><br /> + +<small>BY THE</small><br /><br /> + +AMERICAN EDITOR.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pagevii" id="pagevii">[Pg vii]</a></span></p> + +<h3 class="break"><a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>EDITOR'S PREFACE.</h3> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p>It has been truly observed that a good book +seldom requires, and a bad one never deserves, a +long preface. When a foreign book, however, is +obtruded on the notice of the public, it is but just +that the reasons for so doing should be explained; +and, in the present case, this is the more necessary, +as the title of the work might lead many to believe +that it was intended to re-agitate the question of +unity or plurality of the human species—a question +which the majority of readers consider satisfactorily +and forever settled by the words of Holy Writ. +Such, however, is not the purpose of either the +author or the editor. The design of this work +is, to contribute toward the knowledge of the +leading mental and moral characteristics of the +various races of men which have subsisted from +the dawn of history to the present era, and to +ascertain, if possible, the degree to which they are +susceptible of improvement. The annals of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="pageviii" id="pageviii">[Pg viii]</a></span> +world demonstrate beyond a doubt, that the +different branches of the human family, like the +individual members of a community, are endowed +with capacities, different not only in degree but in +kind, and that, in proportion to these endowments, +they have contributed, and still contribute to that +great march of progress of the human race, which +we term civilization. To portray the nature of +these endowments, to estimate the influence of each +race in the destinies of all, and to point out the +effects of mixture of races in the rise and fall of +great empires, has been the task to the accomplishment +of which, though too extensive for one +man, the author has devoted his abilities. The +troubles and sufferings of his native country, from +sudden political gyrations, led him to speculate +upon their causes, which he believes are to be +traced to the great variety of incongruous ethnical +elements composing the population of France. The +deductions at which he arrived in that field of +observation he subjected to the test of universal +history; and the result of his studies for many +years, facilitated by the experiences of a diplomatic +career, are now before the American public +in a translation. That a work, on so comprehensive +a subject, should be exempt from error, cannot be +expected, and is not pretended; but the aim is<span class="pagenum"><a name="pageix" id="pageix">[Pg ix]</a></span> +certainly a noble one, and its pursuit cannot be +otherwise than instructive to the statesman and +historian, and no less so to the general reader. +In this country, it is peculiarly interesting and +important, for not only is our immense territory +the abode of the three best defined varieties of the +human species—the white, the negro, and the +Indian—to which the extensive immigration of +the Chinese on our Pacific coast is rapidly adding +a fourth, but the fusion of diverse nationalities is +nowhere more rapid and complete; nowhere is the +great problem of man's perfectibility being solved +on a grander scale, or in a more decisive manner. +While, then, nothing can be further removed from +our intentions, or more repugnant to our sentiments, +than to wage war on religion, or throw +ridicule on the labors of the missionary and philanthropist, +we thought it not a useless undertaking +to lay before our countrymen the opinions of a +European thinker, who, without straining or +superseding texts to answer his purposes, or departing +in any way from the pure spirit of Christianity, +has reflected upon questions which with us +are of immense moment and constant recurrence.</p> + +<p class="right10">H. H.</p> + +<p class="left10"><em class="smcap">Philadelphia</em>, <i>Nov. 1, 1855</i>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden"><a name="pagex" id="pagex">[Pg x]</a></span></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexi" id="pagexi">[Pg xi]</a></span></p> + +<h3 class="break"><a name="TOC" id="TOC"></a>CONTENTS.</h3> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +<ul class="none"> +<li class="center"><big><a title="Go to the Analytical Introduction." href="#INTRODUCTION">ANALYTICAL INTRODUCTION.</a></big> + +<p class="chapdesc">The discussion of the moral and intellectual diversity of races +totally independent of the question of unity or plurality of +origin—Leading propositions of this volume, with illustrations +and comments.</p> +</li> + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 1." href="#CHAPTER_I"><big>CHAPTER I.</big></a> +<br />POLITICAL CATASTROPHES. + +<p class="chapdesc">Perishable condition of all human societies—Ancient ideas concerning +this phenomenon—Modern theories +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 105, Chapter 1." href="#page105">105</a></span> +</p> +</li> + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 2." href="#CHAPTER_II"><big>CHAPTER II.</big></a> + +<br />ALLEGED CAUSES OF POLITICAL CATASTROPHES EXAMINED. + +<p class="chapdesc"><em class="smcap">Fanaticism</em>—Aztec Empire of Mexico.—<em class="smcap">Luxury</em>—Modern European +States as luxurious as the ancient.—Corruption of +morals—The standard of morality fluctuates in the various +periods of a nation's history: example, France—Is no higher +in youthful communities than in old ones—Morality of Paris.—<em class="smcap">Irreligion</em>—Never +spreads through all ranks of a nation—Greece +and Rome—Tenacity of Paganism +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 114, Chapter 2." href="#page114">114</a></span> +</p> +</li> + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 3." href="#CHAPTER_III"><big>CHAPTER III.</big></a> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexii" id="pagexii">[Pg xii]</a></span> + +<br />INFLUENCE OF GOVERNMENT UPON THE LONGEVITY OF +NATIONS. + +<p class="chapdesc">Misgovernment defined—Athens, China, Spain, Germany, Italy, +etc.—Is not in itself a sufficient cause for the ruin of nations. +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 138, Chapter 3." href="#page138">138</a></span> +</p> +</li> + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 4." href="#CHAPTER_IV"><big>CHAPTER IV.</big></a> + +<br />DEFINITION OF THE WORD DEGENERACY—ITS CAUSE. + +<p class="chapdesc">Skeleton history of a nation—Origin of castes, nobility, etc.—Vitality +of nations not necessarily extinguished by conquest—China, +Hindostan—Permanency of their peculiar civilizations. +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 146, Chapter 4." href="#page146">146</a></span> +</p> +</li> + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 5." href="#CHAPTER_V"><big>CHAPTER V.</big></a> + +<br />THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY OF RACES IS +NOT THE RESULT OF POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. + +<p class="chapdesc">Antipathy of races—Results of their mixture—The scientific +axiom of the absolute equality of men, but an extension of +the political—Its fallacy—Universal belief in unequal endowment +of races—The moral and intellectual diversity of races +not attributable to institutions—Indigenous institutions are +the expression of popular sentiments; when foreign and +imported, they never prosper—Illustrations: England and +France—Roman Empire—European Colonies—Sandwich +Islands—St. Domingo—Jesuit missions in Paraguay +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 172, Chapter 5." href="#page172">172</a></span> +</p> +</li> + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 6." href="#CHAPTER_VI"><big>CHAPTER VI.</big></a> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexiii" id="pagexiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span> + +<br />THIS DIVERSITY IS NOT THE RESULT OF GEOGRAPHICAL +SITUATION. + +<p class="chapdesc">America—Ancient empires—Phenicians and Romans—Jews—Greece +and Rome—Commercial cities of Europe—Isthmus of +Darien +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 201, Chapter 6." href="#page201">201</a></span> +</p> +</li> + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 7." href="#CHAPTER_VII"><big>CHAPTER VII.</big></a> + +<br />INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY UPON MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL +DIVERSITY OF RACES. + +<p class="chapdesc">The term Christian civilization examined—Reasons for rejecting +it—Intellectual diversity no hindrance to the universal diffusion +of Christianity—Civilizing influence of Christian religion +by elevating and purifying the morals, etc.; but does not +remove intellectual disparities—Various instances—Cherokees—Difference +between imitation and comprehension of +civilized life +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 215, Chapter 7." href="#page215">215</a></span> +</p> +</li> + + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to 'Introductory Note to Chapters 8 and 9.'" href="#I_NOTE"><big>INTRODUCTORY NOTE</big><br /> +TO<br /> +CHAPTERS VIII. AND IX.</a> + +<p class="chapdesc">Rapid survey of the populations comprised under the appellation +"Teutonic"—Their present ethnological area, and leading +characteristics—Fondness for the sea displayed by the +Teutonic tribes of Northwestern Europe, and perceptible in +their descendants +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 234, Introductory Note." href="#page234">234</a></span> +</p> +</li> + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 8." href="#CHAPTER_VIII"><big>CHAPTER VIII.</big></a> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexiv" id="pagexiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span> + +<br />CIVILIZATION. + +<p class="chapdesc">Mr. Guizot's and Mr. W. von Humboldt's definitions examined. +Its elements +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 246, Chapter 8." href="#page246">246</a></span> +</p> +</li> + + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 9." href="#CHAPTER_IX"><big>CHAPTER IX.</big></a> + +<br />ELEMENTS OF CIVILIZATION—CONTINUED. + +<p class="chapdesc">Definition of the term—Specific differences of civilizations—Hindoo, +Chinese, European, Greek, and Roman civilizations—Universality +of Chinese civilization—Superficiality of ours—Picture +of the social condition of France +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 272, Chapter 9." href="#page272">272</a></span> +</p> +</li> + + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 10." href="#CHAPTER_X"><big>CHAPTER X.</big></a> + +<br />QUESTION OF UNITY OR PLURALITY OF RACES. + +<p class="chapdesc">Systems of Camper, Blumenbach, Morton, Carus—Investigations +of Owen, Vrolik, Weber—Prolificness of hybrids, the great +scientific stronghold of the advocates of unity of species +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 312, Chapter 10." href="#page312">312</a></span> +</p> +</li> + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 11." href="#CHAPTER_XI"><big>CHAPTER XI.</big></a> + +<br />PERMANENCY OF TYPES. + +<p class="chapdesc">The language of Holy Writ in favor of common origin—The +permanency of their characteristics separates the races of +men as effectually as if they were distinct creations—Arabs, +Jews—Prichard's argument about the influence of climate +examined—Ethnological history of the Turks and Hungarians +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 336, Chapter 11." href="#page336">336</a></span> +</p> +</li> + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 12." href="#CHAPTER_XII"><big>CHAPTER XII.</big></a> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexv" id="pagexv">[Pg xv]</a></span> + +<br />CLASSIFICATION OF RACES. + +<p class="chapdesc">Primary varieties—Test for recognizing them; not always reliable—Effects +of intermixture—Secondary varieties—Tertiary +varieties—Amalgamation of races in large cities—Relative +scale of beauty in various branches of the human family—Their +inequality in muscular strength and powers of endurance +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 368, Chapter 12." href="#page368">368</a></span> +</p> +</li> + + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to 'Note to the Preceding Chapter.'" href="#C_NOTE">NOTE TO THE PRECEDING CHAPTER.</a> + +<p class="chapdesc">The position and treatment of woman among the various races +of men a proof of their moral and intellectual diversity +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 384, Note." href="#page384">384</a></span> +</p> +</li> + + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 13." href="#CHAPTER_XIII"><big>CHAPTER XIII.</big></a> + +<br />PERFECTIBILITY OF MAN. + +<p class="chapdesc">Imperfect notions of the capability of savage tribes—Parallel +between our civilization and those that preceded it—Our +modern political theories no novelty—The political parties +of Rome—Peace societies—The art of printing a means, the +results of which depend on its use—What constitutes a +"living" civilization—Limits of the sphere of intellectual +acquisitions +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 391, Chapter 13." href="#page391">391</a></span> +</p> +</li> + + +<li class="center"><a title="Go to Chapter 14." href="#CHAPTER_XIV"><big>CHAPTER XIV.</big></a> + +<br />MUTUAL RELATIONS OF DIFFERENT MODES OF INTELLECTUAL +CULTURE. + +<p class="chapdesc">Necessary consequences of a supposed equality of all races—Uniform +testimony of history to the contrary—Traces of extinct +<span class="pagenum"><a name="pagexvi" id="pagexvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span>civilizations among barbarous tribes—Laws which govern +the adoption of a state of civilization by conquered populations—Antagonism +of different modes of culture; the Hellenic +and Persian, European and Arab, etc. +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 414, Chapter 14." href="#page414">414</a></span> +</p> +</li> + + +<li class="center"><big><a title="Go to Chapter 15." href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></big> + +<br />MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE +THREE GREAT VARIETIES. + +<p class="chapdesc">Impropriety of drawing general conclusions from individual +cases—Recapitulatory sketch of the leading features of the +Negro, the Yellow, and the White races—Superiority of the +latter—Conclusion of volume the first +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Page 439, Chapter 15." href="#page439">439</a></span> +</p> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +</li> + +<li class="center"><big><a title="Go to the Appendix." href="#APPENDIX">APPENDIX.</a></big> + +<br /><em class="smcap">By J. C. Nott</em>, M. D. + +<p class="chapdesc">A—Dr. Morton's later tables +<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Appendix A, Page 461." href="#A">461</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapdesc">B—Species; varieties. Latest experiments upon the laws of +hybridity<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Appendix B, Page 473." href="#B">473</a></span></p> + +<p class="chapdesc">C—Biblical connections of the question of unity or plurality of +species<span class="linenum"><a title="Go to Appendix C, Page 504." href="#C">504</a></span></p> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +</li> + +<li class="center"><big><a href="#FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</a></big></li> + +</ul> + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page13" id="page13">[Pg 13]</a></span></p> + +<h3 class="break"><a name="INTRODUCTION" id="INTRODUCTION"></a>ANALYTICAL INTRODUCTION.</h3> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p>Before departing on one's travels to a foreign +country, it is well to cast a glance on the map, +and if we expect to meet and examine many +curiosities, a correct itinerary may not be an +inconvenient travelling companion. In laying +before the public the present work of Mr. Gobineau, +embracing a field of inquiry so boundless +and treating of subjects of such vast importance +to all, it has been thought not altogether useless +or inappropriate to give a rapid outline of the +topics presented to the consideration of the +reader—a ground-plan, as it were, of the extensive +edifice he is invited to enter, so that he may +afterwards examine it at leisure, and judge of +the symmetry of its parts. This, though fully +sensible of the inadequacy of his powers to the +due execution of the task, the present writer has +endeavored to do, making such comments on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page14" id="page14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +way, and using such additional illustrations as the +nature of the subject seemed to require.</p> + +<p class="tbreak">Whether we contemplate the human family +from the point of view of the naturalist or of the +philosopher, we are struck with the marked +dissimilarity of the various groups. The obvious +physical characteristics by which we distinguish +what are termed different races, are not more +clearly defined than the psychical diversities observable +among them. "If a person," says the learned +vindicator of the unity of the human species,<a name="FNanchor-1" id="FNanchor-1"></a><a href="#Footnote-1" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 1.">[1]</a> +"after surveying some brilliant ceremony or court +pageant in one of the splendid cities of Europe, +were suddenly carried into a hamlet in Negro-land, +at the hour when the sable tribes recreate +themselves with dancing and music; or if he were +transported to the saline plains over which bald +and tawny Mongolians roam, differing but little in +hue from the yellow soil of their steppes, brightened +by the saffron flowers of the iris and tulip; +if he were placed near the solitary dens of the +Bushman, where the lean and hungry savage<span class="pagenum"><a name="page15" id="page15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +crouches in silence, like a beast of prey, watching +with fixed eyes the birds which enter his pitfall, +or greedily devouring the insects and reptiles +which chance may bring within his grasp; if he +were carried into the midst of an Australian +forest, where the squalid companions of kangaroos +may be seen crawling in procession, in imitation of +quadrupeds, would the spectator of such phenomena +imagine the different groups which he had surveyed +to be the offspring of one family? And if +he were led to adopt that opinion, how would he +attempt to account for the striking diversities in +their aspect and manner of existence?"</p> + +<p>These diversities, so graphically described by +Mr. Prichard, present a problem, the solution of +which has occupied the most ingenious minds, +especially of our times. The question of unity +or plurality of the human species has of late +excited much animated discussion; great names +and weighty authorities are enlisted on either +side, and a unanimous decision appears not likely +to be soon agreed upon. But it is not my purpose, +nor that of the author to whose writings these +pages are introductory, to enter into a contest which +to me seems rather a dispute about words than +essentials. The distinguishing physical characteristics +of what we term races of man are recognized<span class="pagenum"><a name="page16" id="page16">[Pg 16]</a></span> +by all parties, and whether these races are <em>distinct +species</em> or <em>permanent varieties</em><a name="FNanchor-2" id="FNanchor-2"></a><a href="#Footnote-2" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 2.">[2]</a> only of the same, +cannot affect the subject under investigation. In +whatever manner the diversities among the +various branches of the human family may have +originated, whether they are primordial or were +produced by external causes, their permanency is +now generally admitted. "The Ethiopian cannot +change his skin." If there are, or ever have been, +external agencies that could change a white man +into a negro, or <i>vice versa</i>, it is obvious that such +causes have either ceased to operate, or operate +only in a lapse of time so incommensurable as to +be imponderable to our perceptions, for the races +which now exist can be traced up to the dawn of +history, and no well-authenticated instance of a +transformation under any circumstances is on +record. In human reasoning it is certainly legitimate +to judge of the future by the experiences of +the past, and we are, therefore, warranted to conclude +that if races have preserved their identity +for the last two thousand years, they will not lose +it in the next two thousand.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page17" id="page17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +It is somewhat singular, however, that while +most writers have ceased to explain the physical +diversities of races by external causes, such as +climate, food, etc., yet many still persist in maintaining +the absolute equality of all in other +respects, referring such differences in character as +are undeniable, solely to circumstances, education, +mode of life, etc. These writers consider all races +as merely in different stages of development, and +pretend that the lowest savage, or at least his +offspring, may, by judicious training, and in course +of time, be rendered equal to the civilized man. +Before mentioning any facts in opposition to this +doctrine, let us examine the reasoning upon which +it is based.</p> + +<p>"Man is the creature of circumstances," is an +adage extended from individuals to races, and repeated +by many without considering its bearing. +The celebrated author of <cite>Wealth of Nations</cite><a name="FNanchor-3" id="FNanchor-3"></a><a href="#Footnote-3" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 3.">[3]</a> says, +"that the difference between the most dissimilar +characters, between a philosopher and a common +street porter, for example, arises, not so much from +nature, but from habit and education." That a +mind, which, with proper nurture, might have +graced a philosopher, should, under unfavorable<span class="pagenum"><a name="page18" id="page18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +circumstances, remain forever confined in a narrow +and humble sphere, does not, indeed, seem at +all improbable; but Dr. Smith certainly does not +mean to deny the existence of natural talents, of +innate peculiar capacities for the accomplishment +of certain purposes. This is what they do who +ascribe the mental inequality of the various +branches of the human family to external circumstances +only. "The intellectual qualities of man," +say they, "are developed entirely by education. +The mind is, at first, a perfect blank, fitted and +ready to receive any kind of impressions. For +these, we are dependent on the political, civil, and +religious institutions under which we live, the +persons with whom we are connected, and the circumstances +in which we are placed in the different +periods of life. Wholly the creatures of association +and habit, the characters of men are formed +by the instruction, conversation, and example of +those with whom they mix in society, or whose +ideas they imbibe in the course of their reading +and studies."<a name="FNanchor-4" id="FNanchor-4"></a><a href="#Footnote-4" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 4.">[4]</a> Again: "As all men, in all nations, +are of the same species, are endowed with +the same senses and feelings, and receive their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page19" id="page19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +perceptions and ideas through similar organs, the +difference, whether physical or moral, that is observed +in comparing different races or assemblages +of men, can arise only from external and +adventitious circumstances."<a name="FNanchor-5" id="FNanchor-5"></a><a href="#Footnote-5" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 5.">[5]</a> The last position is +entirely dependent on the first; if we grant the +first, relating to individuals, the other follows as a +necessary consequence. For, if we assume that +the infinite intellectual diversities of individuals +are owing solely to external influences, it is self-evident +that the same diversities in nations, which +are but aggregations of individuals, must result +from the same causes. But are we prepared to +grant this first position—to assert that man is but +an automaton, whose wheelwork is entirely without—the +mere buffet and plaything of accident and +circumstances? Is not this the first step to gross +materialism, the first argument laid down by that +school, of which the great Locke has been stigmatized +as the father, because he also asserts that the +human mind is at first a blank tablet. But Locke +certainly could not mean that all these tablets +were the same and of equal value. A tablet of +wax receives an impression which one of marble +will not; on the former is easily effaced what the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page20" id="page20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +other forever retains. We do not deny that circumstances +have a great influence in moulding +both moral and intellectual character, but we do +insist that there is a primary basis upon which +the degree of that influence depends, and which +is the work of God and not of man or chance. +What agriculturist could be made to believe that, +with the same care, all plants would thrive equally +well in all soils? To assert that the character of +a man, whether good or wicked, noble or mean, is +the aggregate result of influences over which he +has no control, is to deny that man is a free agent; +it is infinitely worse than the creed of the Buddhist, +who believes that all animated beings possess +a detached portion of an all-embracing intelligence, +which acts according to the nature and +capacity of the machine of clay that it, for the +time, occupies, and when the machine is worn out +or destroyed, returns, like a rivulet to the sea, to +the vast ocean of intelligence whence it came, and +in which again it is lost. In the name of common +sense, daily observation, and above all, of revelation, +we protest against a doctrine which paves +the road to the most absurd as well as anti-religious +conclusions. In it we recognize the fountain +whence flow all the varied forms and names +under which Atheism disguises itself. But it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page21" id="page21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +useless to enter any further upon the refutation of +an argument which few would be willing seriously +to maintain. It is one of those plausible speculations +which, once admitted, serve as the basis of +so many brilliant, but airy, theories that dazzle +and attract those who do not take the trouble of +examining their solidity.</p> + +<p>Once we admit that circumstances, though they +may impede or favor the development of powers, +cannot give them; in other words, that they can +call into action, but cannot create, moral and intellectual +resources; no argument can be drawn +from the unity of species in favor of the mental +equality of races. If two men, the offspring of +the same parents, can be the one a dunce, the +other a genius, why cannot different races, though +descended of the same stock, be different also in +intellectual endowments? We should laugh at, +or rather, pity the man who would try to persuade +us that there is no difference in color, etc., between +the Scandinavian and the African, and yet it is by +some considered little short of heresy to affirm, +that there is an imparity in their minds as well as +in their bodies.</p> + +<p>We are told—and the objection seems indeed +a grave one—that if we admit psychical as well +as physical gradations in the scale of human races,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page22" id="page22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +the lowest must be so hopelessly inferior to the +higher, their perceptions and intellectual capacities +so dim, that even the light of the gospel +cannot illumine them. Were it so, we should at +once abandon the argument as one above human +comprehension, rather than suppose that God's +mercy is confined to any particular race or races. +But let us earnestly investigate the question. On +so vital a point the sacred record cannot but be +plain and explicit. To it let us turn. Man—even +the lowest of his species—has a soul. However +much defaced God's image, it is vivified +by His breath. To save that soul, to release it +from the bondage of evil, Christ descended upon +earth and gave to mankind, not a complicated +system of philosophy which none but the learned +and intellectual could understand, but a few +simple lessons and precepts, comprehensible to the +meanest capacity. He did not address himself to +the wise of this world, but bade them be like +children if they would come unto him. The +learned Pharisees of Judea jeered and ridiculed +him, but the poor woman of Canaan eagerly +picked up the precious crumbs of that blessed repast +which they despised. His apostles were chosen +from among the lowly and simple, his first followers +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page23" id="page23">[Pg 23]</a></span>belonged to that class. He himself hath said:<a name="FNanchor-6" id="FNanchor-6"></a><a href="#Footnote-6" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 6.">[6]</a> +"I thank thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and +earth, because thou hast hid these things from the +wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto +babes." How then shall we judge of the degree +of intellect necessary to be a follower of Jesus? +Are the most intellectual, the best informed men +generally the best Christians? Or does the word +of God anywhere lead us to suppose that at the +great final judgment the learned prelate or ingenious +expositor of the faith will be preferred to +the humble, illiterate savage of some almost unknown +coast, who eagerly drinks of the living +water whereof whosoever drinketh shall never +thirst again?</p> + +<p>This subject has met with the attention which +its importance deserves, at the hands of Mr. +Gobineau, and he also shows the fallacy of the +idea that Christianity will remove the mental +inequality of races. True religion, among all +nations who are blessed with it and sincerely +embrace it, will purify their morals, and establish +friendly relations between man and his fellow-man. +But it will not make an <em>intellectually</em> inferior +race equal to a superior one, because it was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page24" id="page24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +not designed to bestow talents or to endow with +genius those who are devoid of it. Civilization is +essentially the result of man's intellectual gifts, +and must vary in its character and degree like +them. Of this we shall speak again in treating of +the <em>specific differences of civilization</em>, when the term +<em>Christian civilization</em> will also be examined.</p> + +<p>One great reason why so many refuse to recognize +mental as well as physical differences among +races, is the common and favorite belief of our +time in the infinite perfectibility of man. Under +various forms this development-theory, so flattering +to humanity, has gained an incredible number +of adherents and defenders. We believe ourselves +steadily marching towards some brilliant goal, to +which every generation brings us nearer. We +look with a pity, almost amounting to contempt, +upon those who preceded us, and envy posterity, +which we expect to surpass us in a ratio even +greater than we believe ourselves to surpass our +ancestors. It is indeed a beautiful and poetic idea +that civilization is a vast and magnificent edifice +of which the first generation laid the corner-stone, +and to which each succeeding age contributes new +materials and new embellishments. It is our tower +of Babel, by which we, like the first men after the +flood, hope to reach heaven and escape the ills of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page25" id="page25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +life. Some such idea has flattered all ages, but in +ours it has assumed a more definite form. We +point with pride to our inventions, annihilating—we +say—time and distance; our labor-saving machines +refining the mechanic and indirectly diffusing +information among all classes, and confidently +look forward to a new era close at hand, a millennium +to come. Let us, for a moment, divest ourselves +of the conceit which belongs to every age, +as well as to every country and individual; and +let us ask ourselves seriously and candidly: In +what are we superior to our predecessors? We +have inventions that they had not, it is true, and +these inventions increase in an astonishing ratio; +we have clearer ideas of the laws which govern +the material world, and better contrivances to +apply these laws and to make the elements subservient +to our comfort. But has the human mind +really expanded since the days of Pythagoras and +Plato? Has the thinker of the nineteenth century +faculties and perceptions which they had not? +Have we one virtue more or one vice less than +former generations? Has human nature changed, +or has it even modified its failings? Though +we succeed in traversing the regions of air as +easily and swifter than we now do broad continents +and stormy seas; though we count all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page26" id="page26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +worlds in the immensity of space; though we +snatch from nature her most recondite secrets, +shall we be aught but men? To the true philosopher +these conquests over the material world +will be but additional proofs of the greatness of +God and man's littleness. It is the vanity and +arrogance of the creature of clay that make him +believe that by his own exertions he can arrive at +God-like perfection. The insane research after +the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life may +be classed among the many other futile attempts +of man to invade the immutable decree: "Thus +far, and no farther." To escape from the moral and +intellectual imperfections of his nature, there is +but one way; the creature must humbly and devoutly +cast himself into the ever-open arms of the +Creator and seek for knowledge where none +knocketh in vain. This privilege he has enjoyed +in all ages, and it is a question which I would +hesitate to answer whether the progress of physical +science has not, in many cases at least, rather +the effect of making him self-sufficient and too +confident in his own powers, than of bringing him +nearer to the knowledge of the true God. It is +one of the fatal errors of our age in particular, to +confound the progress of physical science with a +supposed moral progress of man. Were it so, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page27" id="page27">[Pg 27]</a></span> +Bible would have been a revelation of science as +well as of religion, and that it is not is now beginning +to be conceded, though by no means so generally +as true theology would require; for the law +of God was intended for every age, for every +country, for every individual, independent of the +state of science or a peculiar stage of civilization, +and not to be modified by any change which man +might make in his material existence. With due +deference, then, to those philosophers who assert +that the moral nature of the human species has +undergone a change at various periods of the +world's history; and those enthusiasts who dream +of an approaching millennium, we hold, that human +nature has always been the same and always +will be the same, and that no inventions or discoveries, +however promotive of his material well-being, +can effect a moral change or bring him +any nearer to the Divine essence than he was in +the beginning of his mundane existence. Science +and knowledge may indeed illumine his earthly +career, but they can shed no light upon the path +he is to tread to reach a better world.</p> + +<p>Christ himself has recognized the diversity of +intellectual gifts in his parable of the talents, from +which we borrow the very term to designate those +gifts; and if, in a community of pure and faithful<span class="pagenum"><a name="page28" id="page28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +Christians, there still are many degrees and kinds +of talents, is it reasonable to suppose that in that +millennium—the only one I can imagine—when all +nations shall call on His name with hope and praise, +all mental imparities of races will be obliterated? +There are, at the present time, nations upon whom +we look down as being inferior in civilization to +ourselves, yet they are as good—if, indeed, not +better—Christians than we are as a people. The +progress of physical science, by facilitating the +intercourse between distant parts of the world, +tends, indeed, to diffuse true religion, and in this +manner—and this manner only—promotes the +moral good of mankind. But here it is only an +instrument, and not an agent, as the machines +which the architect uses to raise his building +materials do not erect the structure.</p> + +<p>One more reason why the unity of the human +species cannot be considered a proof of equal intellectual +capability of races. It is a favorite +method of naturalists to draw an analogy between +man and the brute creation; and, so far as he belongs +to the animal kingdom, this method is undoubtedly +correct and legitimate. But, with regard +to man's higher attributes, there is an impassable +barrier between him and the brute, which, in +the heat of argument, contending parties have not<span class="pagenum"><a name="page29" id="page29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +always sufficiently respected. The great Prichard +himself seems sometimes to have lost sight of it.<a name="FNanchor-7" id="FNanchor-7"></a><a href="#Footnote-7" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 7.">[7]</a> +Thus, he speaks of "psychological" diversities in +varieties of the same undoubted species of animal, +though it is obvious that animals can have no +psychological attributes. But I am willing to +concede to Mr. Prichard all the conclusions he +derives from this analogy in favor of unity of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page30" id="page30">[Pg 30]</a></span> +human species. All dogs, he believes, are derived +from one pair; yet, there are a number of varieties +of dogs, and these varieties are different not +only in external appearance, but in what Mr. +Prichard would call psychological qualities. No +shepherd expects to train a common cur to be the +intelligent guardian of a flock; no sportsman to +teach his hounds, or their unmixed progeny, to +perform the office of setters. That the characteristics +of every variety of dogs are permanent so +long as the breed remains pure, every one knows, +and that their distinctive type remains the same in +all countries and through all time, is proved by +the mural paintings of Egypt, which show that, +2,000 years B. C., they were as well known as in +our day.<a name="FNanchor-8" id="FNanchor-8"></a><a href="#Footnote-8" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 8.">[8]</a> If, then, this permanency of "psychological" +(to take Mr. Prichard's ground) diversity +is compatible with unity of origin in the dog, why +not in the case of man? I am far from desiring to +call into question the unity of our species, but I +contend that the rule must work both ways, and +if "psychological" diversities can be permanent +in the branches of the same species of animals, +they can be permanent also in the branches of the +human family.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page31" id="page31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +In the preceding pages, I have endeavored to +show that the unity of species is no proof of equal +intellectual capability of races, that mental imparities +do not conflict with the universality of +the gospel tidings, and that the permanency of +these imparities is consistent with the reasoning +of the greatest expounder of the unity theory. I +shall now proceed to state the facts which prove +the intellectual diversities among the races of man. +In doing so, it is important to guard against an +error into which so many able writers have fallen, +that of comparing individuals rather than masses.</p> + +<p>What we term national character, is the aggregate +of the qualities preponderating in a community. +It is obvious that when we speak of the +artistic genius of the Greeks, we do not mean that +every native of Hellas and Ionia was an artist; +and when we call a nation unwarlike or valorous, +we do not thereby either stigmatize every individual +as a coward, or extol him as a hero. The +same is the case with races. When, for example, +we assert that the black race is intellectually inferior +to the white, it is not implied that the most +intelligent negro should still be more obtuse than +the most stupid white man. The maximum intellect +and capacity of one race may greatly exceed +the minimum of another, without placing them on<span class="pagenum"><a name="page32" id="page32">[Pg 32]</a></span> +an equality. The testimony of history, and the +results of philanthropic experiment, are the data +upon which the ethnologist must institute his +inquiries, if he would arrive at conclusions instructive +to humanity.</p> + +<p>Let us take for illustration the white and the +black races, supposed by many to represent the +two extremes of the scale of gradation. The +whole history of the former shows an uninterrupted +progress; that of the latter, monotonous +stagnation. To the one, mankind owes the most +valuable discoveries in the domain of thought, +and their practical application; to the other, it +owes nothing. For ages plunged in the darkest +gloom of barbarism, there is not one ray of even +temporary or borrowed improvement to cheer the +dismal picture of its history, or inspire with hope +the disheartened philanthropist. At the boundary +of its territory, the ever-encroaching spirit of +conquest of the European stops powerless.<a name="FNanchor-9" id="FNanchor-9"></a><a href="#Footnote-9" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 9.">[9]</a> Never,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page33" id="page33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +in the history of the world, has a grander or more +conclusive experiment been tried than in the case +of the negro race. We behold them placed in +immediate possession of the richest island in +the richest part of the globe, with every advantage +that climate, soil, geographical situation, +can afford; removed from every injurious contact, +yet with every facility for constant intercourse +with the most polished nations of the earth; +inheriting all that the white race had gained by +the toil of centuries in science, politics, and morals; +and what is the result? As if to afford a still +more irrefragable proof of the mental inequality +of races, we find separate divisions of the same +island inhabited, one by the pure, the other by +a half-breed race; and the infusion of the white +blood in the latter case forms a population incontestably +and avowedly superior. In opposition to +such facts, some special pleader, bent upon establishing +a preconceived notion, ransacks the +records of history to find a few isolated instances +where an individual of the inferior race has displayed +average ability, and from such exceptional<span class="pagenum"><a name="page34" id="page34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +cases he deduces conclusions applicable to the +whole mass! He points with exultation to a +negro who calculates, a negro who is an officer of +artillery in Russia, a few others who are employed +in a counting-house. And yet he does not even +tell us whether these <i>raræ aves</i> are of pure blood +or not, as is often the case.<a name="FNanchor-10" id="FNanchor-10"></a><a href="#Footnote-10" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 10.">[10]</a> Moreover, these instances +are proclaimed to the world with an air of +triumph, as if they were drawn at random from +an inexhaustible arsenal of facts, when in reality +they are all that the most anxious research could +discover, and form the stock in trade of every +declaimer on the absolute equality of races.</p> + +<p>Had it pleased the Creator to endow all branches +of the human family equally, all would then have +pursued the same career, though, perhaps, not all +with equal rapidity. Some, favored by circumstances, +might have distanced others in the race; +a few, peculiarly unfortunately situated, would +have lagged behind. Still, the progress of all +would have been in the same direction, all would +have had the same stages to traverse. Now is this<span class="pagenum"><a name="page35" id="page35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +the case? There are not a few who assert it. +From our earliest infancy we are told of the +savage, barbarous, semi-civilized, civilized, and +enlightened states. These we are taught to consider +as the steps of the ladder by which man +climbs up to infinite perfection, we ourselves being +near the top, while others are either a little below +us, or have scarcely yet firmly established themselves +upon the first rounds. In the beautiful language +of Schiller, these latter are to us a mirror +in which we behold our own ancestors, as an adult +in the children around him re-witnesses his own +infancy. This is, in a measure, true of nations of +the same race, but is it true with regard to different +races? It is little short of presumption to +venture to combat an idea perhaps more extensively +spread than any of our time, yet this we +shall endeavor to do. Were the differences in +civilization which we observe in various nations +of the world, differences of degree only, and not +of kind, it is obvious that the most advanced individual +in one degree must closely approach the +confines of a higher. But this is not the case. +The highest degree of culture known to Hindoo +or Chinese civilization, approaches not the possessor +one step nearer to the ideas and views of +the European. The Chinese civilization is as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page36" id="page36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +perfect, in its own way, as ours, nay more so.<a name="FNanchor-11" id="FNanchor-11"></a><a href="#Footnote-11" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 11.">[11]</a> It +is not a mere child, or even an adult not yet arrived +at maturity; it is rather a decrepit old man. +It too has its degrees; it too has had its periods +of infancy, of adult age, of maturity. And when +we contemplate its fruits, the immense works +which have been undertaken and completed +under its ægis, the systems of morals and politics +to which it gave rise, the inventions which signalized +its more vigorous periods, we cannot but +admit that it is entitled in a high degree to our +veneration and esteem.<a name="FNanchor-12" id="FNanchor-12"></a><a href="#Footnote-12" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 12.">[12]</a> Moreover it has excellencies +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page37" id="page37">[Pg 37]</a></span>which our civilization as yet has not; it +pervades all classes, ours not. In the whole Chinese +empire, comprising, as it does, one-third of the +human race, we find few individuals unable to +read and write; in China proper, none. How many +European countries can pretend to this? And +yet, because Chinese civilization has a different +tendency from ours, because its course lies in another +direction, we call it a semi-civilization. At +what time of the world's history then have we—the +<em>civilized</em> nations—passed through this stage of +semi-civilization?</p> + +<p>The monuments of Sanscrit literature, the magnificent +remains of palaces and temples, the great +number of ingenious arts, the elaborate systems of +metaphysics, attest a state of intellectual culture,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page38" id="page38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +far from contemptible, among the Hindoos. Yet +their civilization, too, we term a semi-civilization, +albeit it is as little like the Chinese as it is like +anything ever seen in Europe.</p> + +<p>Few who will carefully investigate and reflect +upon these facts, will doubt that the terms Hindoo, +Chinese, European civilization, are not indicative +of degrees only, but mean the respective +development of powers essentially different in +their nature. We may consider our civilization +the best, but it is both arrogant and unphilosophical +to consider it as the only one, or as the +standard by which to measure all others. This +idea, moreover, is neither peculiar to ourselves nor +to our age. The Chinese even yet look upon us +as barbarians; the Hindoos probably do the same. +The Greeks considered all extra-Hellenic peoples +as barbarians. The Romans ascribed the same +pre-excellency to themselves, and the predilections +for these nations, which we imbibe already in +our academic years from our classical studies, +cause us to share the same opinion, and to view +with their prejudices nations less akin to us than +they. The Persians, for instance, whom the +Greeks self-complacently styled outside-barbarians, +were, in reality, a highly cultivated people, as no +one can deny who will examine the facts which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page39" id="page39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +modern research has brought to light. Their arts, +if not Hellenic, still attained a high degree of perfection. +Their architecture, though not of Grecian +style, was not inferior in magnificence and splendor. +Nay, I for one am willing to render myself +obnoxious to the charge of classical heresy, by +regarding the pure Persians as a people, in some +respects at least, superior to the Greeks. Their +religious system seems to me a much purer, nobler +one than the inconsistent, immoral mythology of +our favorites. Their ideas of a good and an evil +power in perpetual conflict, and of a mediator who +loves and protects the human race; their utter detestation +of every species of idolatry, have to me +something that prepossesses me in their favor.</p> + +<p>I have now alleged, in a cursory manner, my +principal reasons for considering civilizations as +specifically distinct. To further dilate upon the +subject, though I greatly desire to do so, would +carry me too far; not, indeed, beyond the scope +of the inquiries proposed in this volume, but beyond +the limited space assigned for my introduction. +I shall add only, that—assuming the intellectual +equality of all branches of the human +family—we can assign no causes for the differences +of <em>degree only</em> of their development. Geographical +position cannot explain them, because the +people who have made the greatest advance, have<span class="pagenum"><a name="page40" id="page40">[Pg 40]</a></span> +not always been the most favorably situated. The +greatest geographical advantages have been in +possession of others that made no use of them, +and became of importance only by changing owners. +To cite one of a thousand similar instances. +The glorious Mississippi Valley, with its innumerable +tributary streams, its unparalleled fertility +and mineral wealth, seems especially adapted by +nature for the abode of a great agricultural and +commercial nation. Yet, the Indians roamed over +it, and plied their canoes on its rivers, without ever +being aware of the advantages they possessed. The +Anglo-Saxon, on the contrary, no sooner perceived +them than he dreamed of the conquest of the world. +We may therefore compare such and other advantages +to a precious instrument which it requires +the skill of the workman to use. To ascribe differences +of civilizations to the differences of laws +and political institutions, is absolutely begging the +question, for such institutions are themselves an +effect and an inherent portion of the civilization, +and when transplanted into foreign soils, never +prosper. That the moral and physical well-being +of a nation will be better promoted when liberty +presides over her councils than when stern despotism +sits at the helm, no one can deny; but it is +obvious that the nation must first be prepared to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page41" id="page41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +receive the blessings of liberty, lest they prove a +curse.</p> + +<p>Here is the place for a few remarks upon the +epithet Christian, applied to our civilization. Mr. +Gobineau justly observes, that he knows of no +social or political order of things to which this term +may fitly be said to belong. We may justly speak of +a Brahminic, Buddhistic, Pagan, Judaic civilization, +because the social or political systems designated +by these appellations were intimately connected +with a more or less exclusive theocratical formula. +Religion there prescribed everything: social and +political laws, government, manners, nay, in many +instances, dress and food. But one of the distinguishing +characteristics of Christianity is its universality. +Right at the beginning it disclaimed +all interference in temporal affairs. Its precepts +may be followed under every system of government, +in every path of life, every variety of modes +of existence. Such is, in substance, Mr. Gobineau's +view of the subject. To this I would add a few +comments of my own. The error is not one of +recent date. Its baneful effects have been felt +from almost the first centuries of the establishment +of the Church down to our times. Human legislation +ought, indeed, to be in strict accordance with +the law of God, but to commend one system as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page42" id="page42">[Pg 42]</a></span> +Christian, and proscribe another as unchristian, is +opening the door to an endless train of frightful +evils. This is what, virtually, they do who would +call a civilization Christian, for civilization is the +aggregate social and political development of a +nation, or a race, and the political is always in +direct proportion to the social progress; both +mutually influence each other. By speaking of a +Christian civilization, therefore, we assert that +some particular political as well as social system, +is most conformable to the spirit of our religion. +Hence the union of church and State, and the influence +of the former in temporal affairs—an influence +which few enlightened churchmen, at least +of our age, would wish to claim. Not to speak of +the danger of placing into the hands of any class +of men, however excellent, the power of declaring +what legislation is Christian or not, and thus investing +them with supreme political as well as +spiritual authority; it is sufficient to point out the +disastrous effects of such a system to the interests +of the church itself. The opponents of a particular +political organization become also the opponents +of the religion which advocates and defends it. +The indifferentism of Germany, once so zealous in +the cause of religion, is traceable to this source. +The people are dissatisfied with their political<span class="pagenum"><a name="page43" id="page43">[Pg 43]</a></span> +machinery, and hate the church which vindicates +it, and stigmatizes as impious every attempt at +change. Indeed, one has but to read the religious +journals of Prussia, to understand the lukewarmness +of that people. Mr. Brace, in his <cite>Home Life +in Germany</cite>, says that many intelligent natives of +that country had told him: Why should we go to +church to hear a sermon that extols an order of +things which we know to be wicked, and in the +highest degree detestable? How can a religion +be true which makes adherence to such an order +a fundamental article of its creed?</p> + +<p>One of the features of our constitution which +Mr. De Tocqueville most admires, is the utter +separation of church and State. Mere religious +toleration practically prevails in most European +countries, but this total disconnection of the religious +from the civil institutions, is peculiar to +the United States, and a lesson which it has given +to the rest of the world.</p> + +<p>I do not mean that every one who makes use of +the word Christian civilization thereby implies a +union of church and State, but I wish to point out +the principle upon which this expression is based, +viz: that a certain social and political order of things +is more according to the spirit of the Christian religion +than another; and the consequences which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page44" id="page44">[Pg 44]</a></span> +must, or at least may, follow from the practical +acceptation of this principle. Taking my view of +the subject, few, I think, will dispute that the term +Christian civilization is a misnomer. Of the civilizing +influence of Christianity, I have spoken before, +but this influence would be as great in the +Chinese or Hindoo civilizations, without, in the +least, obliterating their characteristic features.</p> + +<p>Few terms of equal importance are so vaguely +defined as the term <strong class="smcap">civilization</strong>; few definitions +are so difficult. In common parlance, the word +civilization is used to designate that moral, intellectual, +and material condition at which the so-called +European race, whether occupying the Eastern +or the Western continent, has arrived in the +nineteenth century. But the nations comprised in +this race differ from one another so extensively, that +it has been found necessary to invent a new term: +<em>enlightenment</em>. Thus, Great Britain, France, the +United States, Switzerland, several of the States +of the German Confederacy, Sweden, and Denmark, +are called enlightened; while Russia, Spain, +Portugal, Italy, Brazil, and the South American +republics are merely civilized. Now, I ask, in +what does the difference consist?</p> + +<p>Is the diffusion of knowledge by popular education +to be the test? Then Great Britain and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page45" id="page45">[Pg 45]</a></span> +France would fall far below some countries now +placed in the second, or even third rank. Denmark +and China would be the most civilized countries +in the world; nay, even Thibet, and the rest of +Central Asia, would take precedence before the +present champions of civilization. The whole of +Germany and Switzerland would come next, then +the eastern and middle sections of the United States, +then the southern and western; and, after them, +Great Britain and France. Still retaining the +same scale, Russia would actually be ranked above +Italy, the native clime of the arts. In Great +Britain itself, Scotland would far surpass England +in civilization<a name="FNanchor-13" id="FNanchor-13"></a><a href="#Footnote-13" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 13.">[13]</a>.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page46" id="page46">[Pg 46]</a></span> +Is the perfection to which the arts are carried, +the test of civilization? Then Bavaria and Italy<span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden;"><a name="page47" id="page47">[Pg 47]</a></span> +are the most civilized countries. Then are we far +behind the Greeks in civilization. Or, are the +useful arts to carry the prize? Then the people +showing the greatest mechanical genius is the most +civilized.</p> + +<p>Are political institutions to be the test? Then +the question, "Which is the best government?" +must first be decided. But the philosophic answer +would be: "That which is best adapted to the +genius of the people, and therefore best answers the +purposes for which all government is instituted." +Those who believe in the abstract superiority of +any governmental theory, may be compared to the +tailor who would finish some beau-ideal of a coat, +without taking his customer's measure. We could +afford to laugh at such theorists, were not their +schemes so often recorded in blood in the annals +of the world. Besides, if this test be admitted, +no two could agree upon what was a civilized +community. The panegyrist of constitutional +monarchy would call England the only civilized +country; the admirer of municipal liberty would +point to the Hanse towns of the Middle Ages, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page48" id="page48">[Pg 48]</a></span> +their miserable relics, the present free cities of +Germany; the friend of sober republicanism would +exclude from the pale of civilization all but the +United States and Switzerland; the lover of pure +democracy would contend that mankind had retrograded +since the time of Athens, and deplore that +civilization was now confined to some few rude +mountain or nomadic tribes with few and simple +wants; finally, the defender of a paternal autocracy +would sigh for the days of Trajan or Marcus Aurelius, +and hesitate whether, in our age, Austria or +Russia deserved the crown.</p> + +<p>Neither pre-eminence in arts and sciences, nor +in popular instruction, nor in government, can +singly be taken as the test of civilization. Pre-eminence +in all, no country enjoys. Yet all these +are signs of civilization—the only ones by which +we distinguish and recognize it. How, then, shall +we define this term? I would suggest a simple +and, I think, sufficiently explicit definition: Civilization +is the continuous development of man's +moral and intellectual powers. As the aggregate +of these differs in different nations, so differs the +character of their civilization. In one, civilization +manifests itself in the perfection of the arts, either +useful or polite; in another, in the cultivation of +the sciences; in a third; in the care bestowed upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="page49" id="page49">[Pg 49]</a></span> +politics, or, in the diffusion of knowledge among +the masses. Each has its own merits, each its own +defects; none combines the excellencies of all, but +whichever combines the most with fewest defects, +may be considered the best, or most perfect. It is +because not keeping this obvious truth in view +that John Bull laughs (or used to laugh) self-complacently +at Monsieur Crapaud, and that we ourselves +sometimes laugh at his political capers, forgetting +that the thinkers of his nation have, for +the last century at least, led the van in science and +politics—yes, even in politics.<a name="FNanchor-14" id="FNanchor-14"></a><a href="#Footnote-14" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 14.">[14]</a> It is, for the same +reason, that the Frenchman laughs at the German, +or the Dutchman; that the foreigner cannot understand +that there is an <em>American civilization</em> as well, +and, bringing his own country's standard along +with him, finds everything either too little or too +great; or, that the American, going to the native<span class="pagenum"><a name="page50" id="page50">[Pg 50]</a></span> +soil of the ripest scholars in the world, and seeing +brick and mortar carried up by hand to the fourth +story of a building in process of erection,<a name="FNanchor-15" id="FNanchor-15"></a><a href="#Footnote-15" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 15.">[15]</a> or seeing +five men painfully perform a job which his youngest +son would have accomplished without trouble +by the simplest, perhaps self-invented, contrivance, +revolves in his own mind how it is possible that +these people—when the schoolmaster is abroad, +too—are still so many centuries "behind the time." +Thus each nation has its own standard by which +it judges its neighbors; but when extra-European +nations, such as the Chinese or Hindoos, are to be +judged, all unite in voting them <em>outside barbarians</em>.</p> + +<p>Here, then, we have indubitable proofs of moral +and intellectual diversities, not only in what are<span class="pagenum"><a name="page51" id="page51">[Pg 51]</a></span> +generally termed different races, but even in nations +apparently belonging to the same race. Nor do I +see in this diversity ought that can militate against +our ideas of universal brotherhood. Among individuals, +diversity of talent does not preclude +friendly intercourse; on the contrary, it promotes +it, for rivals seldom are friends. Neither does +superior ability exempt us from the duties which +we owe to our fellow-man.</p> + +<p>I have repeatedly made use of the analogy between +societies and the individuals that compose +them. I cannot more clearly express my idea of +civilization than by recurring to it again. Civilization, +then, is to nations what the development of +his physical and intellectual powers is to an individual; +indeed, it is nothing but the aggregate +result of all these individual powers; a common +reservoir to which each contributes a share, whether +large or small. The analogy may be extended +further. Nations may be considered as themselves +members of societies, bearing the same relations +to each other and to the whole, as individuals. +Thus, all the nations of Europe contribute, each +in its own manner and degree, to what has been +called the <em>European</em> civilization. And, in the same +manner, the nations of Asia form distinct systems of +civilizations. But all these systems ultimately tend<span class="pagenum"><a name="page52" id="page52">[Pg 52]</a></span> +to one great aim—the general welfare of mankind. +I would therefore carefully distinguish between +the civilizations of particular nations, of clusters +of nations, and of the whole of our species. To +borrow a metaphor from the mechanism of the +universe, the first are like the planets of a solar +system, revolving—though in different orbits, and +with different velocities—around the same common +centre; but the solar systems again—with all +their planets—revolve round another, more distant +point.</p> + +<p>Let us take two individuals of undoubted intellect. +One may be a great mathematician, the other +a great statesman. Place the first at the head of +a cabinet, the second in an observatory, and the +mathematician will as signally fail in correctly +observing the changes in the political firmament, +as the other in noting those in the heavenly. Yet, +who would decide which had the superior intellect? +This diversity of gifts is not the result of education. +No training, however ingenious, could have +changed an Arago into a Pitt, or <i>vice versa</i>. Raphael +could under no circumstances have become +a Handel, or either of them a Milton. Nay, men +differ in following the same career. Can any one +conceive that Michael Angelo could ever have +painted Vandyke's pictures, Shakspeare written<span class="pagenum"><a name="page53" id="page53">[Pg 53]</a></span> +Milton's verses, Mozart composed Rossini's music, +or Jefferson followed Hamilton's policy? Here, +then, we have excellencies, perhaps of equal degree, +but of very different kinds. Nature, from +her inexhaustible store, has not only unequally, +but variously, bestowed her favors, and this infinite +variety of gifts, as infinite as the variety of faces, +God has doubtless designed for the happiness of +men, and for their more intimate union, in making +them dependent one on another. As each creature +sings his Maker's praise in his own voice and cadence, +the sparrow in his twitter, the nightingale +in her warble, so each human being proclaims the +Almighty's glory by the rightful use of his talents, +whether great or small, for the promotion of his +fellow-creatures' happiness; one may raise pious +emotion in the breast by the tuneful melody of his +song; another by the beauty and vividness of his +images on canvas or in verse; a third discovers +new worlds—additional evidences of His omnipotence +who made them—and, by his calculations, +demonstrates, even to the sceptic, the wonderful +mechanism of the universe; to another, again, it +is given to guide a nation's councils, and, by His +assistance, to avert danger, or correct evils. Fie +upon those who would raise man's powers above +those of God, and ascribe diversity of talents to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page54" id="page54">[Pg 54]</a></span> +education and accident, rather than to His wisdom +and design. Can we not admire the Almighty as +well in the variety as in a fancied uniformity of +His works? Harmony consists in the union of +different sounds; the harmony of the universe, in +the diversity of its parts.</p> + +<p>What is true of a society composed of individuals, +is true of that vast political assemblage composed +of nations. That each has a career to run +through, a destiny to fulfil, is my firm and unwavering +belief. That each must be gifted with +peculiar qualities for that purpose, is a mere corollary +of the proposition. This has been the opinion +of all ages: "The men of Bœotia are noted for +their stolidity, those of Attica for their wit." Common +parlance proves that it is now, to-day, the +opinion of all mankind, whatever theorists may +say. Many affect to deride the idea of "manifest +destiny" that possesses us Anglo-Americans, but +who in the main doubts it? Who, that will but +cast one glance on the map, or look back upon +our history of yesterday only, can think of seriously +denying that great purposes have been accomplished, +will still be accomplished, and that +these purposes were designed and guided by something +more than blind chance? Unroll the page +of history—of the great chain of human events,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page55" id="page55">[Pg 55]</a></span> +it is true, we perceive but few links; like eternity, +its beginning is wrapt in darkness, its end a mystery +above human comprehension—but, in the +vast drama presented to us, in which nations form +the cast, we see each play its part, then disappear. +Some, as Mr. Gobineau has it, act the kings and +rulers, others are content with inferior roles.</p> + +<p>As it is incompatible with the wisdom of the +Creator, to suppose that each nation was not specially +fitted<a name="FNanchor-16" id="FNanchor-16"></a><a href="#Footnote-16" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 16.">[16]</a> for the part assigned to it, we may<span class="pagenum"><a name="page56" id="page56">[Pg 56]</a></span> +judge of what they were capable of by what they +have accomplished.</p> + +<p>History, then, must be our guide; and never +was epoch more propitious, for never has her lamp +shone brighter. The study of this important +science, which Niebuhr truly calls the <i>magistra +vitæ</i>, has received within our days an impulse +such as it never had before. The invaluable +archæological treasures which the linguists and +antiquarians of Europe have rescued from the +literature and monuments of the great nations of +former ages, bring—as it were—back to life again +the mouldered generations of the dim past. We +no longer content ourselves with chronological +outlines, mere names, and unimportant accounts +of kings and their quarrels; we seek to penetrate +into the inner life of those multitudes who acted +their part on the stage of history, and then disappeared, +to understand the modes of thought, the +feelings, ideas, <em>instincts</em>, which actuated them, and +made them what they were. The hoary pyramids +of the Nile valley are forced to divulge their age,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page57" id="page57">[Pg 57]</a></span> +the date of a former civilization; the temples and +sepulchres, to furnish a minute account of even +the private life of their builders;<a name="FNanchor-17" id="FNanchor-17"></a><a href="#Footnote-17" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 17.">[17]</a> the arrow-headed +characters on the disinterred bricks of the sites of +Babylon and Nineveh, are no longer a secret to +the indefatigable orientalists; the classic writers +of Hindostan and China find their most zealous +scholiasts, and profoundest critics, in the capitals +of Western Europe. The dross of childish fables, +which age after age has transmitted to its successor +under the name of history, is exposed to the +powerful furnace of reason and criticism, and the +pure ore extracted, by such men as Niebuhr, Heeren, +Ranke, Gibbon, Grote. The enthusiastic lover of +ancient Rome now sees her early history in clearer, +truer colors than did her own historians.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page58" id="page58">[Pg 58]</a></span> +But, if history is indispensable to ethnology, +the latter is no less so to a true understanding of +history. The two sciences mutually shed light on +one another's path, and though one of them is as +yet in its infancy, its wonderful progress in so +short a time, and the almost unparalleled attention +which it has excited at all hands, are bright omens +for the future. It will be obvious that, by <em>ethnology</em>, +we do not mean <em>ethnography</em>, with which it has long +been synonymous. Their meaning differs in the +same manner, they bear almost the same relation +to one another as <em>geology</em> and <em>geography</em>. While +ethnography contents herself with the mere description +and classification of the races of man, ethnology, +to borrow the expressive language of the +editor of the <cite>London Ethnological Journal</cite>, "investigates +the mental and physical differences of mankind, +and the organic laws upon which they depend; +seeks to deduce from these investigations +principles of human guidance, in all the important +relations of social and national existence."<a name="FNanchor-18" id="FNanchor-18"></a><a href="#Footnote-18" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 18.">[18]</a> The +importance of this study cannot be better expressed +than in the words of a writer in the <cite>North British +Review</cite> for August, 1849: "No one that has not<span class="pagenum"><a name="page59" id="page59">[Pg 59]</a></span> +worked much in the element of history, can be +aware of the immense importance of clearly keeping +in view the differences of race that are discernible +among the nations that inhabit different +parts of the world.... In speculative history, +in questions relating to the past career and the +future destinies of nations, <em>it is only by a firm and +efficient handling of this conception of our species, as +broken up into so many groups or masses, physiologically +different to a certain extent, that any progress +can be made, or any available conclusions accurately +arrived at</em>."<a name="FNanchor-19" id="FNanchor-19"></a><a href="#Footnote-19" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 19.">[19]</a></p> + +<p>But in attempting to divide mankind into such +groups, an ethnologist is met by a serious and apparently +insurmountable difficulty. The gradation +of color is so imperceptible from the clearest white +to the jettest black; and even anatomical peculiarities, +normal in one branch, are found to exist, +albeit in exceptional cases, in many others; so +that the ethnographers scarce know where to stop +in their classification, and while some recognize +but three grand varieties, others contend for five, +for eleven, or even for a much greater number. +This difficulty arises, in my estimation, mainly +from the attempt to class mankind into different<span class="pagenum"><a name="page60" id="page60">[Pg 60]</a></span> +species, that is, groups who have a separate origin; +and also, from the proneness to draw deductions +from individual instances, by which almost any +absurdity can be sustained, or truth refuted. As +we have already inveighed against the latter error, +and shall therefore try to avoid falling into it; and +as we have no desire to enter the field of discussion +about unity or plurality of species, we hope, +in a great measure, to obviate the difficulties that +beset the path of so many inquirers. By the word +<em>race</em><a name="FNanchor-20" id="FNanchor-20"></a><a href="#Footnote-20" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 20.">[20]</a> we mean, both here and in the body of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page61" id="page61">[Pg 61]</a></span> +work, such branches of the human family as are +distinguished in the aggregate by certain well-defined +physical or mental peculiarities, independent +of the question whether they be of identical or +diverse origin. For the sake of simplicity, these +races are arranged in several principal classes, according +to their relative affinities and resemblances. +The most popular system of arrangement is that +of Blumenbach, who recognizes five grand divisions, +distinguished by appellations descriptive +either of color or geographical position, viz: the +White, Circassian, or European; the Yellow, Altaic, +Asiatic, or Mongolian; the Red, American, +or Indian; the Brown, or Malay; and, lastly, the +Black, African, or negro. This division, though +the most commonly adopted, has no superior claims +above any other. Not only are its designations +liable to very serious objections, but it is, in itself, +entirely arbitrary. The Hottentot differs as much +from the negro as the latter does from the Malay; +and the Polynesian from the Malay more than the +American from the Mongolian. Upon the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="page62" id="page62">[Pg 62]</a></span> +principle, then, the number of classes might be +indefinitely extended. Mr. Gobineau thought three +classes sufficient to answer every purpose, and these +he calls respectively the white, yellow, and black. +Mr. Latham,<a name="FNanchor-21" id="FNanchor-21"></a><a href="#Footnote-21" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 21.">[21]</a> the great ethnographer, adopts a +system almost precisely similar to our author's, +and upon grounds entirely different. Though, for +my own part, I should prefer a greater number of +primary divisions, I confess that this coincidence +of opinion in two men, pursuing, independent of, +and unknown to each other, different paths of investigation, +is a strong evidence of the correctness +of their system, which, moreover, has the merit +of great simplicity and clearness.</p> + +<p>It must be borne in mind that the races comprised +under these divisions, are by no means to +be considered equal among themselves. We should +lay it down as a general truth, that while the entire +groups differ principally in <em>degree</em> of intellectual +capacity, the races comprised in each differ +among themselves rather in kind. Thus, we assert +upon the testimony of history, that the white +races are superior to the yellow; and these, in turn, +to the black. But the Lithuanian and the Anglo-Saxon +both belong to the same group of races, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page63" id="page63">[Pg 63]</a></span> +yet, history shows that they differ; so do the Samoyede +and the Chinese, the negro of Lower +Guinea, and the Fellah. These differences, observable +among nations classed under the same head, +as, for instance, the difference between the Russians +and Italians (both white), we express in +every day's language by the word "genius." Thus, +we constantly hear persons speak of the artistic, +administrative, nautical genius of the Greeks, Romans, +and Phenicians, respectively; or, such +phrases as these, which I borrow from Mr. Gobineau: +"Napoleon rightly understood the <em>genius</em> +of his nation when he reinstated the Church, and +placed the supreme authority on a secure basis; +Charles I. and his adviser did not, when they attempted +to bend the neck of Englishmen under +the yoke of absolutism." But, as the word <em>genius</em> +applied to the capacities or tendencies of a nation, +in general implies either too much or too little, it +has been found convenient, in this work, to substitute +for it another term—<em>instinct</em>. By the use +of this word, it was not intended to assimilate man +to the brute, to express aught differing from intellect +or the reasoning capacity; but only to designate +the peculiar manner in which that intellect +or reasoning capacity manifests itself; in other +words, the special adaptation of a nation for the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page64" id="page64">[Pg 64]</a></span> +part assigned to it in the world's history; and, as +this part is performed involuntarily and, for the +most part, unconsciously, the term was deemed +neither improper nor inappropriate. I do not, +however, contend for its correctness, though I +could cite the authority of high names for its use +in this sense; I contend merely for its convenience, +for we thereby gain an easy method of making +distinctions of <em>kind</em> in the mental endowments of +races, in cases where we would hesitate to make +distinctions of <em>degree</em>. In fact, it is saying of multitudes +only what we say of an individual by +speaking of his <em>talent</em>; with this difference, however, +that by talent we understand excellency of +a certain order, while instinct applies to every +grade. Two persons of equal intellectual calibre +may have, one a talent for mathematics, the other +for literature; that is, one can exhibit his intellect +to advantage only in calculation, the other only in +writing. Thus, of two nations standing equally +high in the intellectual scale, one shall be distinguished +for the high perfection attained in the fine +arts, the other for the same perfection in the useful.</p> + +<p>At the risk of wearying the reader with my +definitions, I must yet inflict on him another +which is essential to the right understanding of the +following pages. In common parlance, the terms<span class="pagenum"><a name="page65" id="page65">[Pg 65]</a></span> +<em>nation</em> and <em>people</em> have become strictly synonymous. +We speak indifferently of the French people, or +the French nation; the English people, or the +English nation. If we make any distinction at +all, we perhaps designate by the first expression +the masses; by the second, rather the sovereignty. +Thus, we say the French people are versatile, the +French nation is at war with Russia. But even +this distinction is not always made.</p> + +<p>My purpose is to restore the word nation to its +original signification, in which it expresses the +same as the word race, including, besides, the idea +of some sort of political organization. It is, in +fact, nothing but the Latin equivalent of that +word, and was applied, like tribe, to a collection +of individuals not only living under the same government, +but also claiming a closer consanguinity +to one another than to their neighbors. It differs +from tribe only in this respect, that it is applied to +greater multitudes, as for instance to a coalescence +of several closely-allied tribes, which gives rise to +more complicated political forms. It might therefore +be defined by an ethnologist as <em>a population +consisting of homogeneous ethnical elements</em>.</p> + +<p>The word <em>people</em>, on the contrary, when applied +to an aggregation of individuals living under the +same government, implies no immediate consanguineous +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page66" id="page66">[Pg 66]</a></span>ties among them. <em>Nation</em> does not necessarily +imply political unity; <em>people</em>, always. Thus, +we speak of the Greek <em>nation</em>, though the Greeks +were divided into a number of independent and +very dissimilar sovereignties; but, we say the +Roman <em>people</em>, though the whole population of the +empire obeyed the same supreme head. The Russian +empire contains within its limits, besides the +Russians proper, an almost equal number of Cossacks, +Calmucks, Tartars, Fins, and a number of +other races, all very different from one another +and still more so from the Russians, not only in +language and external appearance, but in manners, +modes of thinking: in one word, in instincts. By +the expression Russian people I should therefore +understand the whole population of that empire; by +Russian nation, only the dominant race to which +the Czar belongs. It is hardly possible to exaggerate +the importance of keeping in view this distinction, +as I shall prove by another instance. The +Hungarian people are very nearly equally divided +(exclusive of about one million Germans) into two +nations, the Magyars and the Sclaves. Not only +have these two, though for centuries occupying the +same soil, remained unmixed and distinct, but the +most intense antipathy exists between them, which +only requires an occasion to display itself in acts<span class="pagenum"><a name="page67" id="page67">[Pg 67]</a></span> +of bloodshed and relentless cruelty, that would +make the tenants of hell shudder. Such an occasion +was the recent revolution, in which, while the +Magyars fought like lions for their independence, +the Sclaves, knowing that they would not participate +in any advantage the others might gain, +proved more formidable opponents than the Austrians.<a name="FNanchor-22" id="FNanchor-22"></a><a href="#Footnote-22" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 22.">[22]</a></p> + +<p>If I have been successful in my discrimination +between the two words, it follows plainly that a +member of one nation, strictly speaking, can no +more become a member of another by process of +law, than a man, by adopting a child, can make it +the fruit of his loins. This rule, though correct +in the abstract, does not always apply to individual +cases; but these, as has already been remarked, +cannot be made the groundwork of general deductions. +In conclusion of this somewhat digressional +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page68" id="page68">[Pg 68]</a></span>definition, I would observe that, owing to +the great intermixture of the European populations, +produced by their various and intimate mutual +relations, it does not apply with the same +force to them as to others, and this I regard as the +reason why the signification of the word has become +modified.</p> + +<p>If we will carefully examine the history of great +empires, we shall be able, in almost every instance, +to trace their beginning to the activity of what, in +the strictest sense of the word, may be called a +nation. Gradually, as the sphere of that nation +expands, it incorporates, and in course of time +amalgamates with foreign elements.</p> + +<p>Nimrod, we learn from sacred history, established +the Assyrian empire. At first, this consisted of but +little more than the city of Babylon, and must necessarily +have contained a very homogeneous population, +if from no other cause than its narrow geographical +limits. At the dawn of profane history, however, +we find this empire extending over boundless +tracts, and uniting under one rule tribes and nations +of the most dissimilar manners and tongues.</p> + +<p>The Assyrian empire fell, and that of the Medes +rose on its ruins. The Median monarchy had an +humble beginning. Dejoces, says tradition, united +the independent tribes of the Medes. Later, we<span class="pagenum"><a name="page69" id="page69">[Pg 69]</a></span> +find them ruling nations whose language they did +not understand, whose manners they despised.</p> + +<p>The Persian empire exceeded in grandeur its +mighty predecessors. Originating in a rebellion of +a few liberty-loving tribes, concerted and successfully +executed by a popular leader (Cyrus), two +generations of rulers extended its boundaries to the +banks of the Nile. In Alexander's time, it was a +conglomeration of a countless number of nations, +many of whom remained under their hereditary +rulers while rendering allegiance, and paying tribute +to the great king.</p> + +<p>I pass over the Macedonian empire, as of too +short a duration to be a fair illustration. The +germ of the Roman empire consisted of a coalescence +of very closely allied tribes: Romulus's +band of adventurers (who must have come from +neighboring communities), the Sabines, Albans, and +Latins. At the period of its downfall, it ruled, at +least nominally, over every then known race.</p> + +<p>In all these instances, the number of which +might be further increased, we find homogeneousness +of population at first, ethnical mixture and +confusion at the end. "But what does this prove? +will be asked. That too great an extension of territory +is the cause of weakness? The idea is old, +and out of date in our times, when steam and electricity +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page70" id="page70">[Pg 70]</a></span>bring the outskirts of the largest empire +in closer proximity than formerly were the frontiers +of the humblest sovereignty." Extension of +territory does not itself prove a cause of weakness +and ruin. The largest empire in the world is that +of China, and, without steam or electricity, it has +maintained itself for 4,000 years, and bids fair, spite +of the present revolution, to last a good long while +yet. But, when extension of territory is attended +with the incorporation of heterogeneous masses, +having different interests, different instincts, from +the conqueror, then indeed the extension must be +an element of weakness, and not of strength.</p> + +<p>The armies which Xerxes led into Greece were +not Persians; but a small fragment of that motley +congregation, the <em>élite</em>, the leaven of the whole +mass, was composed of the king's countrymen. +Upon this small body he placed his principal reliance, +and when, at the fatal battle of Salamis, he +beheld the slaughter of that valiant and noble +band, though he had hundreds of thousands yet at +his command, he rent his garments and fled a +country which he had well-nigh conquered. Here +is the difference between the armies of Cyrus and +those of Xerxes and Darius. The rabbles which +obeyed the latter, perhaps contained as much valor +as the ranks of the enthusiastic followers of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page71" id="page71">[Pg 71]</a></span> +first, though the fact of their fighting under Persian +standards might be considered as a proof of +their inferiority. But what interest had they in the +success of the great king? To forge still firmer +their own fetters? Could the name of Cyrus, the +remembrance of the storming of Sardis, the siege +of Babylon, the conquest of Egypt, fire them with +enthusiasm? Perhaps, in some of those glorious +events, their forefathers became slaves to the tyrants +they now serve, tyrants whose very language they +do not understand.</p> + +<p>The last armies of tottering Rome were drafted +from every part of her boundless dominions, and +of the men who were sent to oppose the threatening +barbarians of the north, some, it might +be, felt the blood of humbled Greece in their +veins; some had been torn from a distant home +in Egypt, or Libya; others, perhaps, remembered +with pride how their ancestors had fought the +Romans in the times of Juba, or Mithridates; +others, again, boiled with indignation at the oppression +of their Gallic brethren;—could those men respect +the glorious traditions of Rome, could they +be supposed to emulate the former legions of the +proud city?</p> + +<p>It is not, then, an extensive territory that ruins +nations; it is a diversity of instincts, a clashing<span class="pagenum"><a name="page72" id="page72">[Pg 72]</a></span> +of interests among the various parts of the population. +When each province is isolated in feelings +and interests from every other, no external +foe is wanted to complete the ruin. Ambitious +and adroit men will soon arise who know how to +play upon these interests, and employ them for the +promotion of their own schemes.</p> + +<p>Nations, in the various stages of their career, +have often been compared to individuals. They +have, it is said, their period of infancy, of youth, +of manhood, of old age. But the similitude, however +striking, is not extended further, and, while +individuals die a natural death, nations are supposed +always to come to a violent end. Probably, +we do not like to concede that all nations, like +all individuals, must ultimately die a natural +death, even though no disease anticipates it; +because we dislike to recognize a rule which +must apply to us as well. Each nation fancies +its own vitality imperishable. When we are +young, we seldom seriously think of death; in the +same manner, societies in the period of their youthful +vigor and energy, cannot conceive the possibility +of their dissolution. In old age and decrepitude, +they are like the consumptive patient, +who, while fell disease is severing the last thread +that binds him to the earth, is still forming plans<span class="pagenum"><a name="page73" id="page73">[Pg 73]</a></span> +for years to come. Falling Rome dreamed herself +eternal. Yet, the mortality of nations admits of +precisely the same proof as that of individuals—universal +experience. The great empires that +overshadowed the world, where are they? The +memory of some is perpetuated in the hearts of +mankind by imperishable monuments; of others, +the slightest trace is obliterated, the vaguest remembrance +vanished. As the great individual +intelligences, whose appearance marks an era in +the history of human thought, live in the minds +of posterity, even though no gorgeous tombstone +points out the resting-place of their hull of clay; +while the mausoleum of him whose grandeur was +but temporary, whose influence transient only, +carries no meaning on its sculptured surface to +after ages; even so the ancient civilizations which +adorned the globe, if their monuments be not in +the domain of thought, their gigantic vestiges +serve but to excite the wonder of the traveller +and antiquary, and perplex the historian. Their +sepulchres, however grand, are mute.<a name="FNanchor-23" id="FNanchor-23"></a><a href="#Footnote-23" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 23.">[23]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page74" id="page74">[Pg 74]</a></span> +Many have been the attempts to detect the causes +why nations die, in order to prevent that catastrophe; +as the physicians of the Middle Ages, who +thought death was always the consequence of disease, +sought for the panacea that was to cure all ills +and thus prolong life forever. But nations, like individuals, +often survive the severest attacks of the +most formidable disease, and die without sickness. +In ancient times, those great catastrophes which +annihilated the political existence of millions, were +regarded as direct interpositions of Providence, +visiting in its wrath the sins of a nation, and +erecting a warning example for others; just as the +remarkable destruction of a noted individual, or +the occurrence of an unusual phenomenon was, and +by many is even now, ascribed to the same immediate +agency. But when philosophy discovered +that the universe is governed by pre-established, +immutable laws, and refused to credit miracles not +sanctioned by religion; then the dogma gained +ground that punishment follows the commission of +sin, as effect does the cause; and national calamities +had to be explained by other reasons. It was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page75" id="page75">[Pg 75]</a></span> +then said, nations die of luxury, immorality, bad +government, irreligion, etc. In other words, success +was made the test of excellency and failure of +crime. If, in individual life, we were to lay it +down as an infallible rule, that he who commits +no excesses lives forever, or at least very long; +and he who does, will immediately die; that he +who is honest in his dealings, will always prosper +more than he who is not; we should have a very +fluctuating standard of morality, since it has pleased +God to sometimes try the good by severe afflictions, +and let the wicked prosper. We should therefore +be often called upon to admire what is deserving +of contempt or punishment, and to seek for guilt +in the innocent. This is what we do in nations. +Wicked institutions have been called good, because +they were attended with success; good ones have +been pronounced bad, because they failed.</p> + +<p>A more critical study of history has demonstrated +the fallibility of this theory, which is +now in a great measure discarded, and another +adopted in its stead. It is argued that, at a certain +period in its existence, a nation infallibly +becomes degenerated, and thus falls. But, asks +Mr. Gobineau, what is degeneracy? A nation +is said to be degenerated when the virtues of its +ancestry are lost. But why are they lost? Because +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page76" id="page76">[Pg 76]</a></span>the nation is degenerated. Is not this like +the reasoning in the child's story-book: Why is +Jack a bad boy? Because he disobeys his parents. +Why does he disobey his parents? Because +he is a bad boy.</p> + +<p>It is necessary, then, to show what degeneracy +is. This step in advance, Mr. Gobineau attempts +to make. He shows that each race is distinguished +by certain capabilities, which, if its civilizing genius +is sufficiently strong to enable it to assume a rank +among the nations of the world, determine the +character of its social and political development. +Like the Phenicians, it may become the merchant +and barterer of the world; or, like the Greeks, the +teacher of future generations; or, like the Romans, +the model-giver of laws and forms. Its part in the +drama of history may be an humble one or a +proud, but it is always proportionate to its powers. +These powers, and the instincts or aspirations +which spring from them, never change as long +as the race remains pure. They progress and +develop themselves, but never alter their nature. +The purposes of the race are always the same. +It may arrive at great perfection in the useful +arts, but, without infiltration of a different element, +will never be distinguished for poetry, painting, +sculpture, etc.; and <i>vice versa</i>. Its nature<span class="pagenum"><a name="page77" id="page77">[Pg 77]</a></span> +may be belligerent, and it will always find causes +for quarrel; or it may be pacific, and then it will +manage to live at peace, or fall a prey to a neighbor.</p> + +<p>In the same manner, the government of a race +will be in accordance with its instincts, and here +I have the weighty authority of the author of +<cite>Democracy in America</cite>, in my favor, and the author's +whom I am illustrating. "A government," +says De Tocqueville,<a name="FNanchor-24" id="FNanchor-24"></a><a href="#Footnote-24" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 24.">[24]</a> "retains its sway over a great +number of citizens, far less by the voluntary and +rational consent of the multitude, than by that <em>instinctive</em>, +and, to a certain extent, involuntary agreement, +which results from similarity of feelings, and +resemblances of opinions. I will never admit that +men constitute a social body, simply because they +obey the same head and the same laws. A society +can exist only when a great number of men consider +a great number of things in the same point +of view; when they hold the same opinions upon +many subjects, and when the same occurrences +suggest the same thoughts and impressions to their +minds." The laws and government of a nation are +always an accurate reflex of its manners and modes +of thinking. "If, at first, it would appear," says +Mr. Gobineau, "as if, in some cases, they were the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page78" id="page78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +production of some superior individual intellect, +like the great law-givers of antiquity; let the facts +be more carefully examined, and it will be found +that the law-giver—if wise and judicious—has contented +himself with consulting the genius of his +nation, and giving a voice to the common sentiment. +If, on the contrary, he be a theorist like +Draco, his system remains a dead letter, soon to be +superseded by the more judicious institutions of a +Solon who aims to give to his countrymen, not the +best laws possible, but the best he thinks them +capable of receiving." It is a great and a very +general error to suppose that the sense of a nation +will always decide in favor of what we term "popular" +institutions, that is to say, such in which each +individual shares more or less immediately in the +government. Its genius may tend to the establishment +of absolute authority, and in that case the +autocrat is but an impersonation of the <i>vox populi</i>, +by which he must be guided in his policy. If he +be too deaf or rash to listen to it, his own ruin +will be the inevitable consequence, but the nation +persists in the same career.</p> + +<p>The meaning of the word degeneracy is now +obvious. This inevitable evil is concealed in the +very successes to which a nation owes its splendor. +Whether, like the Persians, Romans, &c., it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page79" id="page79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +swallowed up and absorbed by the multitudes its +arms have subjected, or whether the ethnical mixture +proceeds in a peaceful manner, the result is +the same. Even where no foreign conquests add +suddenly hundreds of thousands of a foreign population +to the original mass, the fertility of uncultivated +fields, the opulence of great commercial +cities, and all the advantages to be found in the +bosom of a rising nation, accomplish it, if in a +less perceptible, in a no less certain manner. The +two young nations of the world are now the United +States and Russia. See the crowds which are +thronging over the frontiers of both. Both already +count their foreign population by millions. As +the original population—the initiatory element of +the whole mass—has no additions to its numbers +but its natural increase, it follows that the influent +elements must, in course of time, be of equal +strength, and the influx still continuing, finally +absorb it altogether. Sometimes a nation establishes +itself upon the basis of a much more numerous +conquered population, as in the case of +the Frankish conquerors of Gaul; then the amalgamation +of ranks and classes produces the same +results as foreign immigration. It is clear that +each new ethnical element brings with it its own +characteristics or instincts, and according to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page80" id="page80">[Pg 80]</a></span> +relative strength of these will be the modifications +in government, social relations, and the whole +tendencies of the race. The modifications may be +for the better, they may be for the worse; they +may be very gradual, or very sudden, according +to the merit and power of the foreign influence; +but in course of time they will amount to radical, +positive changes, and then the original nation has +ceased to exist.</p> + +<p>This is the natural death of human societies. +Sometimes they expire gently and almost imperceptibly; +oftener with a convulsion and a +crash. I shall attempt to explain my meaning +by a familiar simile. A mansion is built +which in all respects suits the taste and wants of +the owner. Succeeding generations find it too +small, too dark, or otherwise ill adapted to their +purposes. Respect for their progenitor, and +family association, prevent, at first, very extensive +changes, still each one makes some; and as these +associations grow fainter, the changes become +more radical, until at last nothing of the old house +remains. But if it had previously passed into the +hands of a stranger, who had none of these associations +to venerate and respect, he would probably +have pulled it down at once and built another.</p> + +<p>An empire, then, falls, when the vitalizing principle +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page81" id="page81">[Pg 81]</a></span>which gave it birth is exhausted; when its +parts are connected by none but artificial ties, and +artificial ties are all those which unite races possessed +of different instincts. This idea is expressed +in the beautiful image of the inspired prophet, +when he tells the mighty king that great truth, +which so many refuse to believe, that all earthly +kingdoms must perish until "the God of Heaven +set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed."<a name="FNanchor-25" id="FNanchor-25"></a><a href="#Footnote-25" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 25.">[25]</a> +"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. +This great image, whose brightness was excellent, +stood before thee, and the form thereof was terrible. +This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and +his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of +brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and +part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was +cut without hands, which smote the image upon +his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake +them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the +brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces +together, and became like the chaff of the summer +threshing-floors; and the wind carried them away, +that no place was found for them."<a name="FNanchor-26" id="FNanchor-26"></a><a href="#Footnote-26" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 26.">[26]</a></p> + +<p>I have now illustrated, to the best of my abilities, +several of the most important propositions of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page82" id="page82">[Pg 82]</a></span> +Mr. Gobineau, and attempted to sustain them by +arguments and examples different from those used +by the author. For a more perfect exposition I +must refer the reader to the body of the work. +My purpose was humbly to clear away such obstacles +as the author has left in the path, and remove +difficulties that escaped his notice. The task +which I have set myself, would, however, be far +from accomplished, were I to pass over what I +consider a serious error on his part, in silence and +without an effort at emendation.</p> + +<p>Civilization, says Mr. Gobineau, arises from the +combined action and mutual reaction of man's +moral aspirations, and the pressure of his material +wants. This, in a general sense, is obviously true. +But let us see the practical application. I shall +endeavor to give a concise abstract of his views, +and then to point out where and why he errs.</p> + +<p>In some races, says he, the spiritual aspirations +predominate over their physical desires, +in others it is the reverse. In none are either +entirely wanting. According to the relative proportion +and intensity of either of these influences, +which counteract and yet assist each +other, the tendency of the civilization varies. If +either is possessed in but a feeble degree, or if +one of them so greatly outweighs the other as to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page83" id="page83">[Pg 83]</a></span> +completely neutralize its effects, there is no civilization, +and never can be one until the race is +modified by intermixture with one of higher endowments. +But if both prevail to a sufficient extent, +the preponderance of either one determines +the character of the civilization. In the Chinese, +it is the material tendency that prevails, in the +Hindoo the other. Consequently we find that in +China, civilization is principally directed towards +the gratification of physical wants, the perfection +of material well-being. In other words, it is of an +eminently utilitarian character, which discourages +all speculation not susceptible of immediate practical +application.</p> + +<p>This well describes the Chinese, and is precisely +the picture which M. Huc, who has lived +among them for many years, and has enjoyed +better opportunities for studying their genius +than any other writer, gives of them in his late +publication.<a name="FNanchor-27" id="FNanchor-27"></a><a href="#Footnote-27" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 27.">[27]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page84" id="page84">[Pg 84]</a></span> +Hindoo culture, on the contrary, displays a +very opposite tendency. Among that nation, +everything is speculative, nothing practical. The +toils of human intellect are in the regions of +the abstract where the mind often loses itself<span class="pagenum"><a name="page85" id="page85">[Pg 85]</a></span> +in depths beyond its sounding. The material wants +are few and easily supplied. If great works are +undertaken, it is in honor of the gods, so that +even their physical labor bears homage to the invisible +rather than the visible world. This also +is a tolerably correct picture.</p> + +<p>He therefore divides all races into these two +categories, taking the Chinese as the type of the +one and the Hindoos as that of the other. According +to him, the yellow races belong pre-eminently +to the former, the black to the latter, while the +white are distinguished by a greater intensity and +better proportion of the qualities of both. But this +division, and no other is consistent with the author's +proposition, by assuming that in the black +races the moral preponderates over the physical +tendency, comes in direct conflict not only with the +plain teachings of anatomy, but with all we know +of the history of those races. I shall attempt to +show wherein Mr. Gobineau's error lies, an error +from the consequences of which I see no possibility +for him to escape, and suggest an emendation which, +so far from invalidating his general position, tends +rather to confirm and strengthen it. In doing so, +I am actuated by the belief that even if I err, I +may be useful by inviting others more capable to +the task of investigation. Suggestions on important<span class="pagenum"><a name="page86" id="page86">[Pg 86]</a></span> +subjects, if they serve no other purpose than to provoke +inquiry, are never useless. The alchemists +of the Middle Ages, in their frivolous pursuit of +impossibilities, discovered many invaluable secrets +of nature and laid the foundation of that science +which, by explaining the intimate mutual action +of all natural bodies, has become the indispensable +handmaiden of almost every other.</p> + +<p>The error, it seems to me, lies in the same confusion +of distinct ideas, to which I had already +occasion to advert. In ordinary language, we +speak of the physical and moral nature of man, +terming physical whatever relates to his material, +and moral what relates to his immaterial being. +Again, we speak of <em>mind</em>, and though in theory we +consider it as a synonyme of soul, in practical application +it has a very different signification. A +person may cultivate his mind without benefiting +his soul, and the term <em>a superior mind</em>, does not +necessarily imply moral excellency. That mental +qualifications or acquisitions are in no way connected +with sound morality or true piety, I have +pointed out before. Should any further illustrations +be necessary, I might remark that the greatest +monsters that blot the page of history, have +been, for the most part, men of what are called +superior minds, of great intellectual attainments.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page87" id="page87">[Pg 87]</a></span> +Indeed, wickedness is seldom very dangerous, unless +joined to intellect, as the common sense of +mankind has expressed in the adage that a fool is +seldom a knave. We daily see men perverting +the highest mental gifts to the basest purposes, a +fact which ought to be carefully weighed by those +who believe that education consists in the cultivation +of the intellect only. I therefore consider the +moral endowments of man as practically different +from the mental or intellectual, at least in their +manifestations, if not in their essence. To define +my idea more clearly, let me attempt to explain +the difference between what I term the moral and +the intellectual nature of man. I am aware of the +dangerous nature of the ground I am treading, but +shall nevertheless make the attempt to show that +it is in accordance with the spirit of religion to +consider what in common parlance is called the +moral attributes of man, and which would be +better expressed by the word <em>psychical</em>, as divisible +into two, the strictly moral, and the intellectual.</p> + +<p>The former is what leads man to look beyond his +earthly existence, and gives even the most brutish +savage some vague idea of a Deity. I am making +no rash or unfounded assertion when I declare, +Mr. Locke's weighty opinion to the contrary notwithstanding, +that no tribe has ever been discovered +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page88" id="page88">[Pg 88]</a></span>in which some notion of this kind, however +rude, was wanting, and I consider it innate—a +yearning, as it were, of the soul towards the regions +to which it belongs. The feeling of religion is +implanted in our breast; it is not a production of +the intellect, and this the Christian church confirms +when it declares that <em>faith</em> we owe to the grace of +God.</p> + +<p>Intellect is that faculty of soul by which it +takes cognizance of, classes and compares the facts +of the <em>material</em> world. As all perceptions are derived +through the senses, it follows that upon the +nicety of these its powers must in a great measure +depend. The vigor and delicacy of the nerves, and +the size and texture of the brain in which they all +centre, form what we call native intellectual gifts. +Hence, when the body is impaired, the mind suffers; +"mens sana in corpore sano;" hence, a fever prostrates, +and may forever destroy, the most powerful +intellect; a glass of wine may dim and distort it. +Here, then, is the grand distinction between soul +and mind. The latter, human wickedness may +annihilate; the former, man killeth not. I should +wish to enter more fully upon this investigation, not +new, indeed, in speculative science, yet new in the +application I purpose to make of it, were it not for +fear of wearying my reader, to whom my only<span class="pagenum"><a name="page89" id="page89">[Pg 89]</a></span> +apology can be, that the discussion is indispensable +to the proper investigation of the moral and intellectual +diversities of races. When I say moral +diversities, I do not mean that man's moral endowments, +strictly speaking, are unequal. This assertion +I am not prepared to make, because—as religion +is accessible and comprehensible to them all—it +may be supposed that these are in all cases +equal. But I mean that the manifestation of these +moral endowments varies, owing to causes which +I am now about to consider. I have said that the +moral nature of man leads him to look beyond the +confines of the material world. This, when not +assisted by revelation, he attempts to do by means +of his intellect. The intellect is, as it were, the +visual organ by which the soul scans the abyss +between the present and the future existence. According +to the dimness or brightness of this mental +eye, are his perceptions. If the intellectual +capacity is weak, he is content with a grovelling +conception of the Deity; if powerful, he erects an +elaborate fabric of philosophical speculations. But, +as the Almighty has decreed that human intellect, +even in its sublimest flight, cannot soar to His +presence; it follows that the most elaborate fabric +of the philosopher is still a <em>human</em> fabric, that the +most perfect human theology is still <em>human</em>, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page90" id="page90">[Pg 90]</a></span> +hence—the necessity of revelation. This divine +light, which His mercy has vouchsafed us, dispenses +with, and eclipses, the feeble glimmerings of human +intellect. It illumines as well the soul of the rude +savage as of the learned theologian; of the illiterate +as of the erudite. Nay, very often the former has +the advantage, for the erudite philosopher is prone +to think his own lamp all-sufficient. If it be objected +that a highly cultivated mind, if directed to +rightful purposes, will assist in gaining a <em>nobler</em> +conception of the Deity, I shall not contradict, for +in the study of His works, we learn still more to +admire the Maker. But I insist that true piety +can, and does exist without it, and let those who +trust so much in their own powers beware lest +they lean upon a broken staff.</p> + +<p>The strictly moral attributes of man, therefore, +those attributes which enable him to communicate +with his Maker, are common—probably in equal +degree—to all men, and to all races of men. But +his communications with the external world depend +on his physical conformation. The body is the +connecting link between the spirit and the material +world, and, by its intimate relations to both, +specially adapted to be the means of communication +between them. There seems to me nothing +irrational or irreligious in the doctrine that, according +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page91" id="page91">[Pg 91]</a></span>to the perfectness of this means of communication, +must be the intercourse between the two. +A person with dull auditory organs can never +appreciate music, and whatever his talents otherwise +may be, can never become a Meyerbeer or a +Mozart. Upon quickness of perception, power of +analysis and combination, perseverance and endurance, +depend our intellectual faculties, both in their +degree and their kind; and are not they blunted +or otherwise modified in a morbid state of the body? +I consider it therefore established beyond dispute, +that a certain general physical conformation is +productive of corresponding mental characteristics. +A human being, whom God has created with a +negro's skull and general <em>physique</em>, can never equal +one with a Newton's or a Humboldt's cranial +development, though the soul of both is equally +precious in the eyes of the Lord, and should be in +the eyes of all his followers. There is no tendency +to materialism in this idea; I have no sympathy +with those who deny the existence of the soul, +because they cannot find it under the scalpel, and +I consider the body not the mental agent, but the +servant, the tool.</p> + +<p>It is true that science has not discovered, and +perhaps never will discover, what physical differences +correspond to the differences in individual<span class="pagenum"><a name="page92" id="page92">[Pg 92]</a></span> +minds. Phrenology, starting with brilliant promises, +and bringing to the task powers of no mean order, +has failed. But there is a vast difference between the +characteristics by which we distinguish individuals +of the same race, and those by which we distinguish +races themselves. The former are not strictly—at +least not immediately—hereditary, for the child +most often differs from both parents in body and +mind, because no two individuals, as no two leaves +of one tree, are precisely alike. But, although every +oak-leaf differs from its fellow, we know the leaf of +the oak-tree from that of the beech, or every other; +and, in the same manner, races are distinguished by +peculiarities which are hereditary and permanent. +Thus, every negro differs from every other negro, +else we could not tell them apart; yet all, if pure +blood, have the same characteristics in common +that distinguish them from the white. I have +been prolix, but intentionally so, in my discrimination +between individual distinction and those of +race, because of the latter, comparative anatomy +takes cognizance; the former are left to phrenology, +and I wished to remove any suspicion that +in the investigation of moral and intellectual diversities +of races, recourse must be had to the ill-authenticated +speculations of a dubious science. +But, from the data of comparative anatomy, attained +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page93" id="page93">[Pg 93]</a></span>by a slow and cautious progress, we deduce +that races are distinguished by certain permanent +physical characteristics; and, if these physical +characteristics correspond to the mental, it follows +as an obvious conclusion that the latter are permanent +also. History ratifies the conclusion, and the +common sense of mankind practically acquiesces +in it.</p> + +<p>To return, then, to our author. I would add +to his two elements of civilization a third—intellect +<i>per se</i>; or rather, to speak more correctly, I +would subdivide one of his elements into two, of +which one is probably dependent on physical conformation. +The combinations will then be more +complex, but will remove every difficulty.</p> + +<p>I remarked that although we may consider all +races as possessed of equal moral endowments, we +yet may speak of moral diversities; because, without +the light of revelation, man has nothing but +his intellect whereby to compass the immaterial +world, and the manifestation of his moral faculties +must therefore be in proportion to the clearness +of his intellectual, and their preponderance +over the animal tendencies. The three I consider +as existing about in the following relative proportions +in the three great groups under which Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page94" id="page94">[Pg 94]</a></span> +Gobineau and Mr. Latham<a name="FNanchor-28" id="FNanchor-28"></a><a href="#Footnote-28" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 28.">[28]</a> have arranged the +various races—a classification, however, which, as +I already observed, I cannot entirely approve.</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table title="Elements of Civilization" border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="8" summary="White races have the highest rating in each of the 3 elements; yellow races score mediocre, and black races score low except in Animal Properties."> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th abbr="black" scope="col"> BLACK RACES,<br /><small>OR</small><br />ATLANTIDÆ.<a name="FNanchor-29" id="FNanchor-29"></a><a href="#Footnote-29" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 29.">[29]</a></th> + <th abbr="yellow" scope="col">YELLOW RACES,<br /><small>OR</small><br />MONGOLIDÆ.<a href="#Footnote-29" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 29.">[29]</a></th> + <th abbr="white" scope="col">WHITE RACES,<br /><small>OR</small><br />JAPETIDÆ.<a href="#Footnote-29" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 29.">[29]</a></th> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" scope="row">Intellect</th> + <td>Feeble</td> + <td>Mediocre</td> + <td>Vigorous.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" scope="row">Animal Propensities</th> + <td>Very strong</td> + <td>Moderate</td> + <td>Strong.</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" scope="row">Moral Manifestations</th> + <td>Partially latent</td> + <td>Comparatively developed</td> + <td>Highly cultivated.</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p>But the races comprised in each group vary +among themselves, if not with regard to the relative +proportion in which they possess the elements +of civilization, at least in their intensity. +The following formulas will, I think, apply to the +majority of cases, and, at the same time, bring out +my idea in a clearer light:—</p> + +<p>If the animal propensities are strongly developed, +and not tempered by the intellectual +faculties, the moral conceptions must be exceedingly +low, because they necessarily depend on +the clearness, refinement, and comprehensiveness +of the ideas derived from the material world +through the senses. The religious cravings will, +therefore, be contented with a gross worship of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page95" id="page95">[Pg 95]</a></span> +material objects, and the moral sense degenerate +into a grovelling superstition. The utmost elevation +which a population, so constituted, can reach, +will be an unconscious impersonation of the good +aspirations and the evil tendencies of their nature +under the form of a good and an evil spirit, to +the latter of which absurd and often bloody +homage is paid. Government there can be no +other than the right which force gives to the +strong, and its forms will be slavery among themselves, +and submissiveness of all to a tyrannical +absolutism.</p> + +<p>When the same animal propensities are combined +with intellect of a higher order, the moral +faculties have more room for action. The penetration +of intellect will not be long in discovering +that the gratification of physical desires is easiest +and safest in a state of order and stability. Hence +a more complex system of legislation both social +and political. The conceptions of the Deity will +be more elevated and refined, though the idea of +a future state will probably be connected with +visions of material enjoyment, as in the paradise +of the Mohammedans.</p> + +<p>Where the animal propensities are weak and +the intellect feeble, a vegetating national life results. +No political organization, or of the very<span class="pagenum"><a name="page96" id="page96">[Pg 96]</a></span> +simplest kind. Few laws, for what need of restraining +passions which do not exist. The moral sense +content with the vague recognition of a superior +being, to whom few or no rites are rendered.</p> + +<p>But when the animal propensities are so moderate +as to be subordinate to an intellect more or less +vigorous, the moral aspirations will yearn towards +the regions of the abstract. Religion becomes a +system of metaphysics, and often loses itself in the +mazes of its own subtlety. The political organization +and civil legislation will be simple, for +there are few passions to restrain; but the laws +which regulate social intercourse will be many +and various, and supposed to emanate directly +from the Deity.</p> + +<p>Strong animal passions, joined to an intellect +equally strong, allow the greatest expanse for the +moral sense. Political organizations the most +complex and varied, social and civil laws the most +studied, will be the outward character of a society +composed of such elements. Internally we shall +perceive the greatest contrasts of individual goodness +and wickedness. Religion will be a symbolism +of human passions and the natural elements +for the many, an ingenious fabric of moral speculations +for the few.</p> + +<p>I have here rapidly sketched a series of pictures<span class="pagenum"><a name="page97" id="page97">[Pg 97]</a></span> +from nature, which the historian and ethnographer +will not fail to recognize. Whether the features +thus cursorily delineated are owing to the causes +to which I ascribe them, I must leave for the +reader to decide. My space is too limited to +allow of my entering into an elaborate argumentation. +But I would observe that, by taking this +view of the subject, we can understand why all +human—and therefore false—religions are so intimately +connected with the social and political +organization of the peoples which profess them, +and why they are so plainly mapped out on the +globe as belonging to certain races, to whom alone +they are applicable, and beyond whose area they +cannot extend: while Christianity knows no political +or social forms, no geographical or ethnological +limits. The former, being the productions +of human intellect, must vary with its variation, +and perish in its decay, while revelation is universal +and immutable, like the Intelligence of which it +is the emanation.</p> + +<p>It is time now to conclude the task, the accomplishment +of which has carried me far beyond the +limits I had at first proposed to myself. If I have +so long detained the reader on the threshold of the +edifice, it was to facilitate his after progress, and to +give him a chart, that he may not lose himself in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page98" id="page98">[Pg 98]</a></span> +the vast field it covers. There he may often meet +me again, and if I be sometimes deemed officious +with my proffered explanations, he will at least +give me credit for good intentions, and he may, if +he chooses, pass me without recognition. Both +this introduction and notes in the body of the +work were thought necessary for several reasons. +First, the subject is in some measure a new one, +and it was important to guard against misconception, +and show, right at the beginning, what was +attempted to be proved, and in what manner. Secondly, +the author wrote for a European public, +and many allusions are made, or positions taken, +upon an assumed knowledge of facts, of which the +general reader on this side of the ocean can be +supposed to have but a slight and vague apprehension. +Thirdly, the author has, in many cases, +contented himself with abstract reasoning, and +therefore is sometimes chargeable with obscureness, +on which account familiar illustrations have +been supplied. Fourthly, the volume now presented +to the reader is one of a series of four, the +remainder of which, if this meets the public approbation, +may in time appear in an English garb. +But it was important to make this, as much as +possible, independent of the others and complete +in itself. The discussion of the moral and intellectual +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page99" id="page99">[Pg 99]</a></span>diversities of the various groups of the +human family, is, as I have before shown, totally +independent of the question of unity or diversity +of species; yet, as it increases the interest attached +to the solution of that question, which has been +but imperfectly discussed by the author, my esteemed +friend, Dr. J. C. Nott, who has so often and +so ably treated the subject, has promised to furnish, +in notes and an appendix, such additional facts +pertaining to his province as a naturalist, as may +assist the reader in arriving at a correct opinion.</p> + +<p>With regard to the translation, it must be observed +that it is not a <em>literal</em> rendering of the original. +The translator has aimed rather at giving +the meaning, than the exact words or phraseology +of the author, at no time, however, departing from +the former. He has, in some instances, condensed +or omitted what seemed irrelevant, or useless to +the discussion of the question in this country, and +in a few cases, he has transposed a sentence to a +different part of the paragraph, where it seemed +more in its place, and more effective. To explain +and justify these alterations, we must remind our +readers that the author wrote for a public essentially +different from that of the translator; that +continental writers on grave subjects are in general +more intent upon vindicating their opinions<span class="pagenum"><a name="page100" id="page100">[Pg 100]</a></span> +than the form in which they express them, and +seldom devote that attention to style which English +or American readers expect; to which may be added +that Count Gobineau wrote in the midst of a multiplicity +of diplomatic affairs, and had no time, +even if he had thought it worth his while, to give +his work that literary finish which would satisfy +the fastidious. Had circumstances permitted, this +translation would have been submitted to his approbation, +but at the time of its going to press he +is engaged in the service of his country at the +court of Persia.</p> + +<p class="tbreak">For obtruding the present work on the notice +of the American public, no apology will be required. +The subject is one of immense importance, +and especially in this country, where it can +seldom be discussed without adventitious circumstances +biassing the inquirers. To the philanthropist, +the leading idea of the book, "that different +races, like different individuals, are specially fitted +for special purposes, for the fulfilment of which +they are accountable in the measure laid down in +Holy Writ: 'To whom much is given, from him +much will be asked,' and that they are <em>equal</em> only +when they truly and faithfully perform the duties of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page101" id="page101">[Pg 101]</a></span> +their station"—to the philanthropist, this idea must +be fraught with many valuable suggestions. So +far from loosening the ties of brotherhood, it binds +them closer, because it teaches us not to despise +those who are endowed differently from us; and +shows us that they, too, may have excellencies +which we have not.</p> + +<p>To the statesman, the student of history, and +the general reader, it is hoped that this volume +will not be altogether useless, and may assist to a +better understanding of many of the problems that +have so long puzzled the philosopher. The greatest +revolutions in national relations have been accomplished +by the migrations of races, the most +calamitous wars that have desolated the globe have +been the result of the hostility of races. Even +now, a cloud is lowering in the horizon. The +friend of peace and order watches it with silent +anxiety, lest he hasten its coming. The spirit of +mischief exults in its approach, but fears to betray +his plans. Thus, western and central Europe now +present the spectacle of a lull before the storm. +Monarchs sit trembling on their thrones, while +nations mutter curses. Nor have premonitory +symptoms been wanting. Three times, within +little more than half a century, have the eruptions +of that ever-burning political volcano—France—shaken +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page102" id="page102">[Pg 102]</a></span>the social and political system of the civilized +world, and shown the amount of combustible +materials, which all the efforts of a ruling class +cannot always protect from ignition. The grand +catastrophe may come within our times. And, is +it the result of any particular social condition, the +action of any particular class in the social scale, +the diffusion of any particular political principles? +No, because the revolutionary tendencies are various, +and even opposite; if republican in one place, +monarchical in another; if democratic in France, +aristocratic in Poland. Nor is it a particular social +class wherein the revolutionary principle flourishes, +for the classes which, in one country, wish subversion, +in another, are firmly attached to the established +order of things. The poor in Germany are +proletarians and revolutionists; in Spain, Portugal, +and Italy, the enthusiastic lovers of their king. +The better classes in the former country are +mostly conservative; in the latter, they are the +makers, or rather attempters, of revolutions. Nor +is it any particular social condition, for no class is +so degraded as it has been; never was poverty less, +and prosperity greater in Europe than in the present +century; and everywhere the political institutions +are more liberal than ever before. Whence, +then, this gathering storm? Does it exist only in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page103" id="page103">[Pg 103]</a></span> +the minds of the visionary, or is it a mere bugbear +of the timorous? Ask the prudent statesman, the +traveller who pierces the different strata of the +population; look behind the grates of the State-prisons; +count—if this be possible—the number +of victims of military executions in Germany and +Austria, in 1848 and 1849; read the fearful accounts +of the taking of Vienna, of Rome, of Ancona, +of Venice, during the same short space of time. +Everywhere the same cry: Nationality. It is not +the temporary ravings of a mob rendered frantic +by hunger and misery. It is a question of nationality, +a war of races. Happy we who are removed +from the immediate scene of the struggle, and can +be but remotely affected by it. Yet, while I write, +it seems as though the gales of the Atlantic had +blown to our peaceful shores some taints of the +epidemic that rages in the Old World. May it soon +pass over, and a healthy atmosphere again prevail!</p> + +<p class="right10">H. H.</p> + +<p class="left10"><em class="smcap">Mobile</em>, Aug. 20, 1855.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden;"><a name="page104" id="page104">[Pg 104]</a></span> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page105" id="page105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="break"><a name="DIVERSITY_OF_RACES" id="DIVERSITY_OF_RACES"></a><big>DIVERSITY OF RACES.</big></h2> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<p class="center">POLITICAL CATASTROPHES.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>Perishable condition of all human societies—Ancient ideas concerning +this phenomenon—Modern theories.</p></div> + + +<p>The downfall of civilizations is the most striking, +and, at the same time, the most obscure of all the +phenomena of history. If the sublime grandeur +of this spectacle impresses the mind with awe, the +mystery in which it is wrapped presents a boundless +field for inquiry and meditation to a reflecting +mind. The study of the birth and growth of nations +is, indeed, fraught with many valuable observations: +the gradual development of human +societies, their successes, conquests, and triumphs, +strike the imagination in a lively manner, and +excite an ever increasing interest. But these +phenomena, however grand and interesting, seem<span class="pagenum"><a name="page106" id="page106">[Pg 106]</a></span> +susceptible of an easy explanation. We consider +them as the necessary consequences of the intellectual +and moral endowments of man. Once we +admit the existence of these endowments, their +results will no longer surprise us.</p> + +<p>But we perceive that, after a period of glory and +strength, all societies formed by man begin to totter +and fall; all, I said, because there is no exception. +Scattered over the surface of our globe, we +see the vestiges of preceding civilizations, many +of which are known to us only by name, or have +not left behind them even that faint memorial, and +are recorded only by the mute stones in the depths +of primeval forests.<a name="FNanchor-30" id="FNanchor-30"></a><a href="#Footnote-30" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 30.">[30]</a> If we glance at our modern +States, we are forced to the conclusion that, though +their date is but of yesterday, some of them already +exhibit signs of old age. The awful truth of prophetic +language about the instability of all things +human, applies with equal force to political bodies +and to individuals, to nations and their civilizations. +Every association of men for social and +political purposes, though protected by the most +ingenious social and political ties and contrivances, +conceals among the very elements of its life, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page107" id="page107">[Pg 107]</a></span> +germ of inevitable destruction, contracted the day +it was formed. This terrible fact is proved by the +history of all ages as well as of our own. It is +owing to a natural law of death which seems to +govern societies as well as individuals; but, does +this law operate alike in all cases? is it uniform +like the result it brings about, and do all civilizations +perish from the same pre-existing cause?</p> + +<p>A superficial glance at the page of history would +tempt us to answer in the negative, for the apparent +causes of the downfall of the great empires of +antiquity were very different in each case. Yet, +if we pierce below the surface, we find in this very +necessity of decay, which weighs so imperiously +upon all societies without exception, the evidence +of the existence of some general, though concealed, +cause, producing a natural death, even where no +external causes anticipate it by violent destruction. +We also discover that all civilizations, after a short +duration, exhibit, to the acute observer, certain +intimate disturbances, difficult to define, but whose +existence is undeniable; and that these present in +all cases an analogous character. Finally, if we +distinguish the ruin of civilizations from that of +States (for we sometimes see the same culture +subsist in a country under foreign domination, and +survive the destruction of the political body which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page108" id="page108">[Pg 108]</a></span> +gave it birth; while, again, comparatively slight +misfortunes cause it to be transformed, or to disappear +altogether), we become more and more +confirmed in the idea that this principle of death +in all societies is not only a necessary condition of +their life, independent, in a great measure, of external +causes, but is also uniform in all. To fix +and determine this principle, and to trace its effects +in the lives of those nations, of whom history has +left us records, has been my object and endeavor +in the studies, the results of which I now lay before +the reader.</p> + +<p>The fact that every human agglomeration, and +the peculiar culture resulting from it, is doomed +to perish, was not known to the ancients. Even +in the epochs immediately preceding ours, it was +not believed. The religious spirit of Asiatic antiquity +looked upon the great political catastrophes +in the same light that they did upon the sudden destruction +of an individual: as a demonstration of +Divine wrath, visiting a nation or an individual +whose sins had marked them out for signal punishment, +which would serve as an example to those criminals +whom the rod had as yet spared. The Jews, +misunderstanding the meaning of the promise, +believed their empire imperishable. Rome, at the +very moment when the threatening clouds lowered<span class="pagenum"><a name="page109" id="page109">[Pg 109]</a></span> +in the horizon of her grandeur, entertained no +doubt as to the eternity of hers.<a name="FNanchor-31" id="FNanchor-31"></a><a href="#Footnote-31" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 31.">[31]</a> But our generation +has profited by experience; and, as no one +presumes to doubt that all men must die, because +all who came before us have died; so we are firmly +convinced, that the days of nations, as of individuals, +however many they be, are numbered. The +wisdom of the ancients, therefore, will afford us +but little assistance in the unravelling of our subject, +if we except one fundamental maxim: that +the finger of Divine Providence is always visible +in the conduct of the affairs of this world. From +this solid basis we shall not depart, accepting it in +the full extent that it is recognized by the church. +It cannot be contested that no civilization will +perish without the will of God, and to apply to the +mortal condition of all societies, the sacred axiom +by which the ancients explained certain remarkable, +and, in their opinion, isolated cases of destruction, +is but proclaiming a truth of the first +order, of which we must never lose sight in our +researches after truths of secondary importance. +If it be further added that societies perish by their +sins, I willingly accede to it; it is but drawing a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page110" id="page110">[Pg 110]</a></span> +parallel between them and individuals who also +find their death, or accelerate it, by disobedience +to the laws of the Creator. So far, there is nothing +contradictory to reason, even when unassisted by +Divine light; but these two truths once admitted +and duly weighed, the wisdom of the ancients, I +repeat, affords no further assistance. They did +not search into the ways by which the Divine will +effected the ruin of nations; on the contrary, they +were rather inclined to consider these ways as +essentially mysterious, and above comprehension. +Seized with pious terror at the aspect of the wrecks, +they easily imagined that Providence had specially +interfered thus to strike and completely +destroy once powerful states. Where a miracle +is recorded by the Sacred Scriptures, I willingly +submit; but where that high testimony is wanting, +as it is in the great number of cases, we may justly +consider the ancient theory as defective, and not +sufficiently enlightened. We may even conclude, +that as Divine Justice watches over nations unremittingly, +and its decrees were pronounced ere the +first human society was formed, they are also enforced +in a predeterminate manner, and according +to the unalterable laws of the universe, which +govern both animated nature and the inorganic +world.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page111" id="page111">[Pg 111]</a></span> +If we have cause to reproach the philosophers of +the earlier ages, for having contented themselves, +in attempting to fathom the mystery, with the vindication +of an incontestable theological truth, but +which itself is another mystery; at least, they +have not increased the difficulties of the question +by making it a theme for a maze of errors. In +this respect, they rank highly above the rationalist +schools of various epochs.</p> + +<p>The thinkers of Athens and Rome established +the doctrine, which has retained its ground to our +days, that states, nations, civilizations, perished +only through luxury, enervation, bad government, +corruption of morals, fanaticism. All these causes, +either singly or combined, were supposed to account +for the downfall of civilizations. It is a +necessary consequence of this doctrine, that where +neither of these causes are in operation, no destructive +agency is at work. Societies would therefore +possess this advantage over individuals, that they +could die no other but a violent death; and, to +establish a body politic as durable as the globe +itself, nothing further would be necessary than to +elude the dangers which I enumerated above.</p> + +<p>The inventors of this thesis did not perceive its +bearing. They considered it as an excellent means +for illustrating the doctrine of morality, which, as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page112" id="page112">[Pg 112]</a></span> +is well known, was the sole aim of their historical +writings. In their narratives of events, they were so +strongly preoccupied with showing the happy rewards +of virtue, and the disastrous results of crime +and vice, that they cared little for what seemed to +furnish no illustration. This erroneous and narrow-minded +system often operated contrary to the intention +of the authors, for it applied, according to occasion, +the name of virtue and vice in a very arbitrary +manner; still, to a great extent, the severe +and laudable sentiment upon which it was based, +excuses it. If the genius of a Plutarch or a Tacitus +could draw from history, studied in this manner, +nothing but romances and satires, yet the romances +were sublime, and the satires generous.</p> + +<p>I wish I could be equally indulgent to the +writers of the eighteenth century, who made their +own application of the same theory; but there is, +between them and their teachers, too great a difference. +While the ancients were attached to the +established social system, even to a fault, our +moderns were anxious for destruction, and greedy +of untried novelties. The former exerted themselves +to deduce useful lessons from their theory; +the latter have perverted it into a fearful weapon +against all rational principles of government, which +they stigmatized by every term that mankind holds<span class="pagenum"><a name="page113" id="page113">[Pg 113]</a></span> +in horror. To save societies from ruin, the disciples +of Voltaire would destroy religion, law, industry, +commerce; because, if we believe them, +religion is fanaticism; laws, despotism; industry +and commerce, luxury and corruption.</p> + +<p>I have not the slightest intention of entering +the field of polemics; I wished merely to direct +attention to the widely diverging results of this +principle, when applied by Thucydides, or the +Abbé Raynal. Conservative in the one, cynically +aggressive in the other, it is erroneous in both.</p> + +<p>The causes to which the downfall of nations is +generally ascribed are not the true ones, and +whilst I admit that these evils may be rifest in +the last stages of dissolution of a people, I deny +that they possess in themselves sufficient strength, +and so destructive an energy, as to produce the +final, irremediable catastrophe.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page114" id="page114">[Pg 114]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<p class="center">ALLEGED CAUSES OF POLITICAL CATASTROPHES +EXAMINED.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p><em class="smcap">Fanaticism</em>—Aztec Empire of Mexico.—<em class="smcap">Luxury</em>—Modern European +States as luxurious as the ancient.—Corruption of +morals—The standard of morality fluctuates in the various +periods of a nation's history: example, France—Is no higher +in youthful communities than in old ones—Morality of Paris.—<em class="smcap">Irreligion</em>—Never +spreads through all ranks of a nation—Greece +and Rome—Tenacity of Paganism.</p></div> + + +<p>Before entering upon my reasons for the opinion +expressed at the end of the preceding chapter, +it will be necessary to explain and define what I +understand by the term society. I do not apply +this term to the more or less extended circle belonging +to a distinct sovereignty. The republic +of Athens is not, in my sense of the word, a society; +neither is the kingdom of Magadha, the +empire of Pontus, or the caliphat of Egypt in the +time of the Fatimites. These are fragments of +societies, which are transformed, united, or subdivided, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page115" id="page115">[Pg 115]</a></span>by the operation of those primordial laws +into which I am inquiring, but whose existence or +annihilation does not constitute the existence or +annihilation of a society. Their formation is, for +the most part, a transient phenomenon, which exerts +but a limited, or even indirect influence upon the +civilization that gave it birth. By the term society, +I understand an association of men, actuated +by similar ideas, and possessed of the same general +instincts. This association need by no means +be perfect in a political sense, but must be complete +from a social point of view. Thus, Egypt, +Assyria, Greece, India, China, have been, or are +still, the theatres upon which distinct societies +have worked out their destinies, to which the perturbations +in their political relations were merely +secondary. I shall, therefore, speak of the fractions +of these societies only when my reasoning +applies equally to the whole. I am now prepared +to proceed to the examination of the question before +us, and I hope to prove that fanaticism, luxury, +corruption of morals, and irreligion, do not <em>necessarily</em> +occasion the ruin of nations.</p> + +<p>All these maladies, either singly or combined, +have attacked, and sometimes with great virulence, +nations which nevertheless recovered from them, +and were, perhaps, all the more vigorous afterward.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page116" id="page116">[Pg 116]</a></span> +The Aztec empire, in Mexico, seemed to flourish +for the especial glory and exaltation of fanaticism. +What can there be more fanatical than a social +and political system, based on a religion which +requires the incessant and profuse shedding of the +blood of fellow-beings?<a name="FNanchor-32" id="FNanchor-32"></a><a href="#Footnote-32" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 32.">[32]</a> Our remote ancestors, +the barbarous nations of Northern Europe, did +indeed practise this unholy rite, but they never +chose for their sacrifices innocent victims,<a name="FNanchor-33" id="FNanchor-33"></a><a href="#Footnote-33" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 33.">[33]</a> or, at +least, such as they considered so: the shipwrecked +and prisoners of war, were not considered innocent. +But, for the Mexicans, all victims were alike; with +that ferocity, which a modern physiologist<a name="FNanchor-34" id="FNanchor-34"></a><a href="#Footnote-34" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 34.">[34]</a> recognizes +as a characteristic of the races of the New +World, they butchered their own fellow-citizens +indiscriminately, and without remorse or pity. And +yet, this did not prevent them from being a powerful, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page117" id="page117">[Pg 117]</a></span>industrious, and wealthy nation, who might +long have continued to blaspheme the Deity by +their dark creed, but for Cortez's genius and +the bravery of his companions. In this instance, +then, fanaticism was not the cause of the downfall.<a name="FNanchor-35" id="FNanchor-35"></a><a href="#Footnote-35" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 35.">[35]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page118" id="page118">[Pg 118]</a></span>Nor are luxury or enervation more powerful in +their effects. These vices are almost always peculiar +<span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden;"><a name="page119" id="page119">[Pg 119]</a></span>to the higher classes, and seldom penetrate +the whole mass of the population. But I doubt +whether among the Greeks, the Persians, or the +Romans, whose downfall they are said to have +caused, luxury and enervation, albeit in a different +form, had risen to a higher pitch than we see them +to-day in some of our modern States, in France, +Germany, England, and Russia, for instance. The +two last countries are especially distinguished for +the luxury prevalent among the higher classes, +and yet, these two countries seem to be endued +with a vitality much more vigorous and promising +than most other European States. In the Middle +Ages, the Venetians, Genoese, Pisanese, accumulated +in their magazines the treasures and luxuries +of the world; yet, the gorgeous magnificence of +their palaces, and the splendid decorations of their +vessels, did certainly not diminish their power, or +subvert their dominion.<a name="FNanchor-36" id="FNanchor-36"></a><a href="#Footnote-36" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 36.">[36]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page120" id="page120">[Pg 120]</a></span> +Even the corruption of morals, this most terrible +of all scourges, is not necessarily a cause of +national ruin. If it were, the prosperity of a nation, +its power and preponderance, would be in a +direct ratio to the purity of its manners; and it is +hardly necessary to say that this is not the case. +The odd fashion of ascribing all sorts of imaginary +virtues to the first Romans, is now pretty much +out of date.<a name="FNanchor-37" id="FNanchor-37"></a><a href="#Footnote-37" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 37.">[37]</a> Few would now dare to hold up as +models of morality those sturdy patricians of the +old school, who treated their women as slaves, their +children as cattle, and their creditors like wild +beasts. If there should still be some who would<span class="pagenum"><a name="page121" id="page121">[Pg 121]</a></span> +defend so bad a cause, their reasoning could easily +be refuted, and its want of solidity shown. Abuse +of power, in all epochs, has created equal indignation; +there were deeper reasons for the abolition of +royalty than the rape of Lucretia, for the expulsion +of the decemvirs than the outrage of Appius; but +these pretexts for two important revolutions, sufficiently +demonstrate the public sentiment with regard +to morals. It is a great mistake to ascribe the vigor +of a young nation to its superior virtues; since +the beginning of historical times, there has not +been a community, however small, among which +all the reprehensible tendencies of human nature +were not visible, notwithstanding which, it has increased +and prospered. There are even instances +where the splendor of a state was owing to the +most abominable institutions. The Spartans are +indebted for their renown, and place in history, to +a legislation fit only for a community of bandits.<a name="FNanchor-38" id="FNanchor-38"></a><a href="#Footnote-38" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 38.">[38]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page122" id="page122">[Pg 122]</a></span>So far from being willing to accord to youthful +communities any superiority in regard to morals, +<span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden;"><a name="page123" id="page123">[Pg 123]</a></span>I have no doubt that, as nations advance in age +and consequently approach their period of decay, +they present to the eyes of the moralist a far more +satisfactory spectacle.<a name="FNanchor-39" id="FNanchor-39"></a><a href="#Footnote-39" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 39.">[39]</a> Manners become milder; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page124" id="page124">[Pg 124]</a></span>men accommodate themselves more readily to one +another; the means of subsistence become, if not +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page125" id="page125">[Pg 125]</a></span>easier, at least more varied; reciprocal obligations +are better defined and understood; more refined +theories of right and wrong gain ground. It would +be difficult to show that at the time when the +Greek arms conquered Darius, or when Greek +liberty itself fled forever from the battle-field of +Chæronæa, or when the Goths entered Rome as +victors; that the Persian monarchy, Athens, or +the imperial city, in those times of their downfall, +contained a smaller proportion of honest and virtuous +people than in the most glorious epochs of +their national existence.</p> + +<p>But we need not go so far back for illustrations. +If any one were required to name +the place where the spirit of our age displayed +itself in the most complete contrast with the +virtuous ages of the world (if such there were), +he would most certainly point out Paris. Yet, +many learned and pious persons have assured +me, that nowhere, and in no epoch, could more +practical virtue, solid piety, greater delicacy of +conscience, be found than within the precincts of +this great and corrupt city. The ideal of goodness<span class="pagenum"><a name="page126" id="page126">[Pg 126]</a></span> +is as exalted, the duties of a Christian as well understood, +as by the most brilliant luminaries of +the Church in the seventeenth century. I might +add, that these virtues are divested of the bitterness +and severity from which, in those times, they were +not always exempt; and that they are more united +with feelings of toleration and universal philanthropy.<a name="FNanchor-40" id="FNanchor-40"></a><a href="#Footnote-40" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 40.">[40]</a> +Thus we find, as if to counterbalance +the fearful aberrations of our own epoch, in the +principal theatre of these aberrations, contrasts +more numerous and more striking, than probably +blessed the sight of the faithful in preceding ages.</p> + +<p>I cannot even perceive that great men are wanting +in those periods of corruption and decay; on +the contrary, these periods are often signalized by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page127" id="page127">[Pg 127]</a></span> +the appearance of men remarkable for energy of +character and stern virtue.<a name="FNanchor-41" id="FNanchor-41"></a><a href="#Footnote-41" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 41.">[41]</a> If we look at the +catalogue of Roman emperors, we find a great +number of them as exalted in merit as in rank; +we meet with names like those of Trajan, Antoninus +Pius, Septimius Severus, Alexander Severus, +Jovian; and if we glance beneath the throne, +we see a glorious constellation of great doctors +of our faith, of martyrs, and apostles of the primitive +church; not to consider the number of +virtuous pagans. Active, firm, and valorous minds +filled the camps and the forums, so that it may +reasonably be doubted whether Rome, in the times +of Cincinnatus, possessed so great a number of +eminent men in every department of human activity. +Many other examples might be alleged, to +prove that senile and tottering communities, so +far from being deficient in men of virtue, talent, +and action, possess them probably in greater number +than young and rising states; and that their +general standard of morals is often higher.</p> + +<p>Public morality, indeed, varies greatly at different +periods of a nation's history. The history of +the French nation, better than any other, illustrates<span class="pagenum"><a name="page128" id="page128">[Pg 128]</a></span> +this fact. Few will deny that the Gallo-Romans +of the fifth and sixth centuries, though a subject +race, were greatly superior in point of morals +to their heroic conquerors.<a name="FNanchor-42" id="FNanchor-42"></a><a href="#Footnote-42" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 42.">[42]</a> Individually taken,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page129" id="page129">[Pg 129]</a></span> +they were often not inferior to the latter in courage +and military virtue.<a name="FNanchor-43" id="FNanchor-43"></a><a href="#Footnote-43" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 43.">[43]</a> The intermixture of the +two races, during the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries, +reduced the standard of morals among the +whole nation to a disgraceful level. In the three +succeeding centuries, the picture brightens again. +Yet, this period of comparative light was succeeded +by the dark scenes of the fourteenth and +fifteenth centuries, when tyranny and debauchery +ran riot over the land, and infected all classes of +society, not excepting the clergy; when the nobles +robbed their vassals, and the commonalty sold their +country to a foreign foe. This period, so distinguished +for the total absence of patriotism, and +every honest sentiment, was emphatically one of +decay; the state was shaken to its very foundation, +and seemed ready to bury under its ruins so much +shame and dishonor. But the crisis passed; foreign +and intestine foes were vanquished; the machinery +of government reconstructed on a firmer basis; +the state of society improved. Notwithstanding +its bloody follies, the sixteenth century dishonors +less the annals of the nation than its predecessors, +and it formed the transition period to the age of +those pure and ever-brilliant lights, Fenelon, Bossuet, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page130" id="page130">[Pg 130]</a></span>Montausier, and others. This period, again, +was succeeded by the vices of the regency, and the +horrors of the Revolution. Since that time, we +have witnessed almost incredible fluctuations of +public morality every decade of years.</p> + +<p>I have sketched rapidly, and merely pointed +out the most prominent changes. To do even +this properly, much more to descend to details, +would require greater space than the limits and +designs of this work permit. But I think what +I have said is sufficient to show that the corruption +of public morals, though always a great, +is often a transient evil, a malady which may be +corrected or which corrects itself, and cannot, +therefore, be the sole cause of national ruin, +though it may hasten the catastrophe.</p> + +<p>The corruption of public morals is nearly allied +to another evil, which has been assigned as one of +the causes of the downfall of empires. It is observed +of Athens and Rome, that the glory of +these two commonwealths faded about the same +time that they abandoned their national creeds. +These, however, are the only examples of such a +coincidence that can be cited. The religion of +Zoroaster was never more flourishing in the Persian +empire, than at the time of its downfall. +Tyre, Carthage, Judea, the Mexican and Peruvian<span class="pagenum"><a name="page131" id="page131">[Pg 131]</a></span> +empires expired at the moment when they embraced +their altars with the greatest zeal and +devotion. Nay, I do not believe that even at +Athens and Rome, the ancient creed was abandoned +until the day when it was replaced in every +conscience, by the complete triumph of Christianity. +I am firmly convinced that, politically +speaking, irreligion never existed among any +people, and that none ever abandoned the faith of +their forefathers, except in exchange for another. +In other words, there never was such a thing as a +religious interregnum. The Gallic Teutates gave +way to the Jupiter of the Romans; the worship of +Jupiter, in its turn, was replaced by Christianity. +It is true that, in Athens, not long before the time +of Pericles, and in Rome, towards the age of the +Scipios, it became the fashion among the higher +classes, first to reason upon religious subjects, +next to doubt them, and finally to disbelieve them +altogether, and to pride themselves upon scepticism. +But though there were many who joined +in the sentiment of the ancient "freethinker" who +dared the augurs to look at one another without +laughing, yet this scepticism never gained ground +among the mass of the people.</p> + +<p>Aspasia at her evening parties, and Lelius +among his intimates, might ridicule the religious<span class="pagenum"><a name="page132" id="page132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +dogmas of their country, and amuse themselves at +the expense of those that believed them. But at +both these epochs, the most brilliant in the history +of Greece and Rome, it would have been highly +dangerous to express such sentiments publicly. +The imprudence of his mistress came near costing +Pericles himself dearly, and the tears which he +shed before the tribunal, were not in themselves +sufficiently powerful to save the fair sceptic. The +poets of the times, Aristophanes, Sophocles, and +afterwards Æschylus, found it necessary, whatever +were their private sentiments, to flatter the religious +notions of the masses. The whole nation +regarded Socrates as an impious innovator, and +would have put to death Anaxagoras, but for the +strenuous intercession of Pericles. Nor did the +philosophical and sceptical theories penetrate the +masses at a later period. Never, at any time, did +they extend beyond the sphere of the elegant and +refined. It may be objected that the opinion of +the rest, the mechanics, traders, the rural population, +the slaves, etc., was of little moment, as +they had no influence in the policy of the state. +If this were the case, why was it necessary, until +the last expiring throb of Paganism, to preserve +its temples and pay the hierophants? Why did +men, the most eminent and enlightened, the most<span class="pagenum"><a name="page133" id="page133">[Pg 133]</a></span> +sceptical in their religious notions, not only don +the sacerdotal robe, but even descend to the most +repugnant offices of the popular worship? The +daily reader of Lucretius<a name="FNanchor-44" id="FNanchor-44"></a><a href="#Footnote-44" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 44.">[44]</a> had to snatch moments +of leisure from the all-absorbing game of politics, +to compose a treatise on haruspicy. I allude to +the first Cæsar.<a name="FNanchor-45" id="FNanchor-45"></a><a href="#Footnote-45" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 45.">[45]</a> And all his successors, down to +Constantine, were compelled to unite the pontificial +with the imperial dignity. Even Constantine +himself, though as a Christian prince he had far +better reasons for repugnance to such an office<span class="pagenum"><a name="page134" id="page134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +than any of his predecessors, was compelled +to compromise with the still powerful ancient +religion of the nation.<a name="FNanchor-46" id="FNanchor-46"></a><a href="#Footnote-46" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 46.">[46]</a> This is a clear proof +of the prevalence of the popular sentiment +over the opinion of the higher and more enlightened +classes. They might appeal to reason +and common sense, against the absurdities of the +masses, but the latter would not, could not, renounce +one faith until they had adopted another, +confirming the old truth, that in the affairs of this +world, the positive ever takes precedent over the +negative. The popular sentiment was so strong +that, in the third century, it infected even the +higher classes to some extent, and created among +them a serious religious reaction, which did not +entirely subside until after the final triumph of +Christianity. The revolution of ideas which gradually +diffused true religion among all classes, is +highly interesting, and it may not be altogether +irrelevant to my subject, to point out the principal +causes which occasioned it.</p> + +<p>In the latter stages of the Roman empire, the +armies had acquired such undue political preponderance, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page135" id="page135">[Pg 135]</a></span>that from the emperor, who inevitably +was chosen by them, down to the pettiest governor +of a district, all the functionaries of the government +issued from the ranks. They had sprung +from those popular masses, of whose passionate +attachment to their faith I have already spoken, +and upon attaining their elevated stations, came +in contact with the former rulers of the country, +the old distinguished families, the municipal dignitaries +of cities, in fact those classes who took +pride and delight in sceptical literature. At first +there was hostility between these latter and the +real rulers of the state, whom they would willingly +have treated as upstarts, if they had dared. But +as the court gave the tone, and all the minor military +chiefs were, for the most part, devout and +fanatic, the sceptics were compelled to disguise +their real sentiments, and the philosophers set +about inventing systems to reconcile the rationalistic +theories with the state religion. This revival +of pagan piety caused the greater number of the +persecutions. The rural populations, who had +suffered their faith to be outraged by the atheists +so long as the higher classes domineered over +them, now, that the imperial democracy had reduced +all to the same level, were panting for +revenge; but, mistaking their victims, they directed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page136" id="page136">[Pg 136]</a></span> +their fury against the Christians. The real sceptics +were such men as King Agrippa, who wishes +to hear St. Paul<a name="FNanchor-47" id="FNanchor-47"></a><a href="#Footnote-47" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 47.">[47]</a> from mere curiosity; who hears +him, debates with him, considers him a fool, but +never thinks of persecuting him because he differs +in opinion; or Tacitus, the historian, who, though +full of contempt for the believers in the new +religion, blames Nero for his cruelties towards +them.</p> + +<p>Agrippa and Tacitus were pagan sceptics. Diocletian +was a politician, who gave way to the +clamors of an incensed populace. Decius and +Aurelian were fanatics, like the masses they +governed, and from whom they had sprung.</p> + +<p>Even after the Christian religion had become +the religion of the state, what immense difficulties +were experienced in attempting to bring the masses +within its pale! So hopeless was in some places +the contest with the local divinities, that in many +instances conversion was rather the result of address, +than the effect of persuasion. The genius +of the holy propagators of our religion was reduced +to the invention of pious frauds. The +divinities of the groves, fields, and fountains, were +still worshipped, but under the name of the saints, +the martyrs, and the Virgin. After being for a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page137" id="page137">[Pg 137]</a></span> +time misdirected, these homages would finally +find the right way. Yet such is the obstinacy +with which the masses cling to a faith once received, +that there are traces of it remaining in our +day. There are still parishes in France, where +some heathenish superstition alarms the piety, and +defies the efforts of the minister. In Catholic Brittany, +even in the last centuries, the bishop in vain +attempted to dehort his flock from the worship of +an idol of stone. The rude image was thrown +into the water, but rescued by its obstinate adorers; +and the assistance of the military was required to +break it to pieces. Such was, and such is the +longevity of paganism. I conclude, therefore, that +no nation, either in ancient or modern times, ever +abandoned its religion without having duly and +earnestly embraced another, and that, consequently, +none ever found itself, for a moment, in a state +of irreligion, which could have been the cause of +its ruin.</p> + +<p>Having denied the destructive effects of fanaticism, +luxury, and immorality, and the political +possibility of irreligion, I shall now speak of the +effects of bad government. This subject is well +worthy of an entire chapter.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page138" id="page138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<p class="center">INFLUENCE OF GOVERNMENT UPON THE LONGEVITY +OF NATIONS.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>Misgovernment defined—Athens, China, Spain, Germany, Italy, +etc.—Is not in itself a sufficient cause for the ruin of nations.</p></div> + + +<p>I am aware of the difficulty of the task I have +undertaken in attempting to establish a truth, +which by many of my readers will be regarded as +a mere paradox. That good laws and good +government exert a direct and powerful influence +upon the well-being and prosperity of +a nation, is an indisputable fact, of which I am +fully convinced; but I think that history proves +that they are not absolute conditions of the existence +of a community; or, in other words, that +their absence is not necessarily productive of ruin. +Nations, like individuals, are often preyed upon +by fearful diseases, which show no outward traces +of the ravages within, and which, though dangerous, +are not always fatal. Indeed, if they were,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page139" id="page139">[Pg 139]</a></span> +few communities would survive the first few years +of their formation, for it is precisely during that +period that the government is worst, the laws most +imperfect, and least observed. But here the comparison +between the body political and the human +organization ceases, for while the latter dreads +most the attack of disease during infancy, the +former easily overcomes it at that period. History +furnishes innumerable examples of successful contest +on the part of young communities with the +most formidable and most devastating political +evils, of which none can be worse than ill-conceived +laws, administered in an oppressive or +negligent manner.<a name="FNanchor-48" id="FNanchor-48"></a><a href="#Footnote-48" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 48.">[48]</a></p> + +<p>Let us first define what we understand by bad +government. The varieties of this evil are as +various as nations, countries, and epochs. It were +impossible to enumerate them all. Yet, by classing +them under four principal categories, few +varieties will be omitted.</p> + +<p>A government is bad, when imposed by foreign +influence. Athens experienced this evil under the +thirty tyrants. Yet she shook off the odious<span class="pagenum"><a name="page140" id="page140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +yoke, and patriotism, far from expiring, gained +renewed vigor by the oppression.</p> + +<p>A government is bad, when based upon absolute +and unconditional conquest. Almost the whole extent +of France in the fourteenth century, groaned +under the dominion of England. The ordeal was +passed, and the nation rose from it more powerful +and brilliant than before. China was overrun and +conquered by the Mongol hordes. They were +ejected from its territories, after having previously +undergone a singular transformation. It next fell +into the hands of the Mantchoo conquerors, but +though they already count the years of their reign +by centuries, they are now at the eve of experiencing +the same fate as their Mongol predecessors.</p> + +<p>A government is especially bad, when the principles +upon which it was based are disregarded or +forgotten. This was the fate of the Spanish monarchy. +It was based upon the military spirit of +the nation, and upon its municipal freedom, and +declined soon after these principles came to be +forgotten. It is impossible to imagine greater +political disorganization than this country represented. +Nowhere was the authority of the sovereign +more nominal and despised; nowhere did +the clergy lay themselves more open to censure. +Agriculture and industry, following the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="page141" id="page141">[Pg 141]</a></span> +downward impulse, were also involved in the +national marasmus. Yet Spain, of whom so many +despaired, at a moment when her star seemed +setting forever, gave the glorious example of +heroic and successful resistance to the arms of one +who had hitherto experienced no check in his +career of conquest. Since that, the better spirit +of the nation has been roused, and there is, probably, +at this time, no European state with more +promising prospects, and stronger vitality.<a name="FNanchor-49" id="FNanchor-49"></a><a href="#Footnote-49" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 49.">[49]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page142" id="page142">[Pg 142]</a></span> +A government is also very bad, when, by its +institutions, it authorizes an antagonism either +between the supreme power and the nation, or +among the different classes of which it is composed. +This was the case in the Middle Ages, +when the kings of France and England were at +war with their great vassals, and the peasants in +perpetual feud with the lords. In Germany, the +first effects of the liberty of thought, were the +civil wars of the Hussites, Anabaptists, and other<span class="pagenum"><a name="page143" id="page143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +sectaries. Italy, at a more remote period, was so +distracted by the division of the supreme authority +for which emperor, pope, nobles, and municipalities +contended, that the masses, not knowing whom +to obey, in many instances finished by obeying +neither. Yet in the midst of all these troubles, +Italian nationality did not perish. On the contrary, +its civilization was at no time more brilliant, +its industry never more productive, its foreign influence +never greater.</p> + +<p>If communities have survived such fearful political +tempests, it cannot well be said that national +ruin is a necessary cause of misgovernment. Besides, +wise and happy reigns are few and far +between, in the history of every nation; and these +few are not considered such by all. Historians +are not unanimous in their praise of Elizabeth, +nor do they all consider the reign of William and +Mary as an epoch of prosperity for England. +Truly this science of statesmanship, the highest +and most complicated of all, is so disproportionate +to the capacity of man,<a name="FNanchor-50" id="FNanchor-50"></a><a href="#Footnote-50" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 50.">[50]</a> and so various are the +opinions concerning it, that nations have early and +frequent opportunities of learning to accommodate +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page144" id="page144">[Pg 144]</a></span>themselves to misgovernment, which, in its +worst forms, is still preferable to anarchy. It is a +well-proved fact, which even a superficial study of +history will clearly demonstrate, that communities +often perish under the best government of a long +series that came before.<a name="FNanchor-51" id="FNanchor-51"></a><a href="#Footnote-51" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 51.">[51]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden"><a name="page145" id="page145">[Pg 145]</a></span> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page146" id="page146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<p class="center">DEFINITION OF THE WORD DEGENERACY—ITS +CAUSE.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>Skeleton history of a nation—Origin of castes, nobility, etc.—Vitality +of nations not necessarily extinguished by conquest—China, +Hindostan—Permanency of their peculiar civilizations.</p></div> + + +<p>If the spirit of the preceding pages has been at +all understood, it will be seen that I am far from +considering these great national maladies, misgovernment, +fanaticism, irreligion, and immorality, +as mere trifling accidents, without influence or importance. +On the contrary, I sincerely pity the +community which is afflicted by such scourges, +and think that no efforts can be misdirected which +tend to mitigate or remove them. But I repeat, +that unless these disorganizing elements are grafted +upon another more destructive principle, unless +they are the consequences of a greater, though +concealed, evil; we may rest assured that their +ravages are not fatal, and that society, after a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page147" id="page147">[Pg 147]</a></span> +shorter or longer period of suffering, will escape +their toils, perhaps with renewed vigor and youth.</p> + +<p>The examples I have alleged seem to me conclusive; +their number, if necessary, might be increased +to any extent. But the conviction has +already gained ground, that these are but secondary +evils, to which an undue importance has +hitherto been attached, and that the law which +governs the life and death of societies must be +sought for elsewhere, and deeper. It is admitted +that the germ of destruction is inherent in the +constitution of communities; that so long as it +remains latent, exterior dangers are little to be +dreaded; but when it has once attained full growth +and maturity, the nation must die, even though +surrounded by the most favorable circumstances, +precisely as a jaded steed breaks down, be the +track ever so smooth.</p> + +<p>Degeneracy was the name given to this cause of +dissolution. This view of the question was a great +step towards the truth, but, unfortunately, it went +no further; the first difficulty proved insurmountable. +The term was certainly correct, etymologically +and in every other respect, but how is it with +the definition. A people is said to be degenerated, +when it is badly governed, abuses its riches, is +fanatical, or irreligious; in short, when it has lost<span class="pagenum"><a name="page148" id="page148">[Pg 148]</a></span> +the characteristic virtues of its forefathers. This +is begging the question. Thus, communities succumb +under the burden of social and political evils +only when they are degenerate, and they are degenerate +only when such evils prevail. This circular +argument proves nothing but the small +progress hitherto made in the science of national +biology. I readily admit that nations perish from +degeneracy, and from no other cause; it is when +in that wretched condition, that foreign attacks are +fatal to them, for then they no longer possess the +strength to protect themselves against adverse +fortune, or to recover from its blows. They die, +because, though exposed to the same perils as their +ancestors, they have not the same powers of overcoming +them. I repeat it, the term <em>degeneracy</em> is +correct; but it is necessary to define it, to give it +a real and tangible meaning. It is necessary to +say how and why this vigor, this capacity of overcoming +surrounding dangers, are lost. Hitherto, +we have been satisfied with a mere word, but the +thing itself is as little known as ever.<a name="FNanchor-52" id="FNanchor-52"></a><a href="#Footnote-52" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 52.">[52]</a> The step +beyond, I shall attempt to make. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page149" id="page149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p> + +<p>In my opinion, a nation is degenerate, when +the blood of its founders no longer flows in its<span class="pagenum"><a name="page150" id="page150">[Pg 150]</a></span> +veins, but has been gradually deteriorated by +successive foreign admixtures; so that the nation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page151" id="page151">[Pg 151]</a></span> +while retaining its original name, is no longer +composed of the same elements. The attenuation<span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden;"><a name="page152" id="page152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +of the original blood is attended by a modification +of the original instincts, or modes of thinking; +the new elements assert their influence, and when +they have once gained perfect and entire preponderance, +the degeneration may be considered as +complete. With the last remnant of the original +ethnical principle, expires the life of the society +and its civilization. The masses, which composed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page153" id="page153">[Pg 153]</a></span> +it, have thenceforth no separate, independent, social +and political existence; they are attracted to +different centres of civilization, and swell the ranks +of new societies having new instincts and new +purposes.</p> + +<p>In attempting to establish this theorem, I am +met by a question which involves the solution of +a far more difficult problem than any I have yet +approached. This question, so momentous in its +bearings, is the following:—</p> + +<p>Is there, in reality, a serious and palpable difference +in the capacity and intrinsic worth of different +branches of the human family?</p> + +<p>For the sake of clearness, I shall advance, <i>à priori</i>, +that this difference exists. It then remains to show +how the ethnical character of a nation can undergo +such a total change as I designate by the term +<em>degeneracy</em>.</p> + +<p>Physiologists assert that the human frame is +subject to a constant wear and tear, which would +soon destroy the whole machine, but for new particles +which are continually taking the form and +place of the old ones. So rapid is this change +said to be, that, in a few years, the whole framework +is renovated, and the material identity of the +individual changed. The same, to a great extent, +may be said of nations, only that, while the individual +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page154" id="page154">[Pg 154]</a></span>always preserves a certain similarity of form +and features, those of a nation are subject to innumerable +and ever-varying changes. Let us take +a nation at the moment when it assumes a political +existence, and commences to play a part in the +great drama of the world's stage. In its embryo, +we call it a tribe.</p> + +<p>The simplest and most natural political institution +is that of tribes. It is the only form of +government known to rude and savage nations. +Civilization is the result of a great concentration +of powerful physical and intellectual forces,<a name="FNanchor-53" id="FNanchor-53"></a><a href="#Footnote-53" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 53.">[53]</a> +which, in small and scattered fragments, is impossible. +The first step towards it is, therefore, undoubtedly, +the union of several tribes by alliance +or conquest. Such a coalescence is what we call +a nation or empire. I think it admits of an easy<span class="pagenum"><a name="page155" id="page155">[Pg 155]</a></span> +demonstration, that in proportion as a human +family is endowed with the capacity for intellectual +progress, it exhibits a tendency to enlarge the +circle of its influence and dominion. On the contrary, +where that capacity is weak, or wanting, we +find the population subdivided into innumerable +small fragments, which, though in perpetual collision, +remain forever detached and isolated. The +stronger may massacre the weaker, but permanent +conquest is never attempted; depredatory incursions +are the sole object and whole extent of warfare. +This is the case with the natives of Polynesia, +many parts of Africa, and the Arctic regions. +Nor can their stagnant condition be ascribed to +local or climatical causes. We have seen such +wretched hordes inhabiting, indifferently, temperate +as well as torrid or frigid zones; fertile prairies +and barren deserts; river-shores and coasts as well +as inland regions. It must therefore be founded +upon an inherent incapacity of progress. The +more civilizable a race is, the stronger is the tendency +for aggregation of masses. Complex political +organizations are not so much the effect as the +cause of civilization.<a name="FNanchor-54" id="FNanchor-54"></a><a href="#Footnote-54" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 54.">[54]</a> A tribe with superior intellectual +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page156" id="page156">[Pg 156]</a></span>and physical endowments, soon perceives +that, to increase its power and prosperity, it must +compel its neighbors to enter into the sphere of its +influence. Where peaceful means fail, war is resorted +to. Territories are conquered, a division +into classes established between the victorious and +the subjugated race; in one word, a nation has +made its appearance upon the theatre of history. +The impulse being once given, it will not stop +short in the career of conquest. If wisdom and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page157" id="page157">[Pg 157]</a></span> +moderation preside in its councils, the tracks of +its armies will not be marked by wanton destruction +and bloodshed; the monuments, institutions, +and manners of the conquered will be respected; +superior creations will take the place of the old, +where changes are necessary and useful;—a great +empire will be formed.<a name="FNanchor-55" id="FNanchor-55"></a><a href="#Footnote-55" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 55.">[55]</a> At first, and perhaps for +a long time, victors and vanquished will remain +separated and distinct. But gradually, as the +pride of the conqueror becomes less obtrusive, and +the bitterness of defeat is forgotten by the conquered; +as the ties of common interest become +stronger, the boundary line between them is obliterated. +Policy, fear, or natural justice, prompts +the masters to concessions; intermarriages take +place, and, in the course of time, the various ethnical +elements are blended, and the different nations +composing the state begin to consider themselves<span class="pagenum"><a name="page158" id="page158">[Pg 158]</a></span> +as one. This is the general history of the rise of +all empires whose records have been transmitted +to us.<a name="FNanchor-56" id="FNanchor-56"></a><a href="#Footnote-56" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 56.">[56]</a> An inferior race, by falling into the hands<span class="pagenum"><a name="page159" id="page159">[Pg 159]</a></span> +of vigorous masters, is thus called to share a +destiny, of which, alone, it would have been incapable. +Witness the Saxons by the Norman +conquest.<a name="FNanchor-57" id="FNanchor-57"></a><a href="#Footnote-57" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 57.">[57]</a> But, if there is a decided disparity in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page160" id="page160">[Pg 160]</a></span> +the capacity of the two races, their mixture, while +it ennobles the baser, deteriorates the nobler; a +new race springs up, inferior to the one, though +superior to the other, and, perhaps, possessed of +peculiar qualities unknown to either. The modification +of the ethnical character of the nation, +however, does not terminate here.</p> + +<p>Every new acquisition of territory, by conquest +or treaty, brings an addition of foreign blood. The +wealth and splendor of a great empire attract +crowds of strangers to its capital, great inland<span class="pagenum"><a name="page161" id="page161">[Pg 161]</a></span> +cities, or seaports. Apart from the fact that the +conquering race—that which founds the empire, +and supports and animates it—is, in most cases, +inferior in numbers to the masses which it subdued +and assimilated; the conspicuous part which it +takes in the affairs of the state, renders it more +directly exposed to the fatal results of battles, +proscriptions, and revolts.<a name="FNanchor-58" id="FNanchor-58"></a><a href="#Footnote-58" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 58.">[58]</a> In some instances,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page162" id="page162">[Pg 162]</a></span> +also, it happens that the substratum of native +populations are singularly prolific—witness the +Celts and Sclaves. Sooner or later, therefore, the +conquering race is absorbed by the masses which +its vigor and superiority have aggregated. The +very materials of which it erected its splendor, and +upon which it based its strength, are ultimately +the means of its weakness and destruction. But +the civilization which it has developed, may survive +for a limited period. The forward impulse, +once imparted to the mass, will still propel it for a +while, but its force is continually decreasing. Manners, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page163" id="page163">[Pg 163]</a></span>laws, and institutions remain, but the spirit +which animated them has fled; the lifeless body +still exhibits the apparent symptoms of life, and, +perhaps, even increases, but the real strength has +departed; the edifice soon begins to totter, at the +slightest collision it will crumble, and bury beneath +its ruins the civilization which it had developed.</p> + +<p>If this definition of degeneracy be accepted, and +its consequences admitted, the problem of the rise +and fall of empires no longer presents any difficulty. +A nation lives so long as it preserves the ethnical +principle to which it owes its existence; with this +principle, it loses the <i>primum mobile</i> of its successes, +its glory, and its civilization: it must therefore disappear +from the stage of history. Who can doubt +that if Alexander had been opposed by real Persians, +the men of the Arian stock, whom Cyrus led +to victory, the issue of the battle of Arbela would +have been very different. Or if Rome, in her decadence, +had possessed soldiers and senators like those +of the time of Fabius, Scipio, and Cato, would she +have fallen so easy a prey to the barbarians of the +North?</p> + +<p>It will be objected that, even had the integrity +of the original blood remained intact, a time must +have come when they would find their masters. +They would have succumbed under a series of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page164" id="page164">[Pg 164]</a></span> +well-combined attacks, a long-continued overwhelming +pressure, or simply by the chances of a +lost battle. The political edifice might have been +destroyed in this manner, not the civilization, +not the social organization. Invasion and defeat +would have been reverses, sad ones, indeed, but +not irremediable. There is no want of facts to +confirm this assertion.</p> + +<p>In modern times, the Chinese have suffered two +complete conquests. In each case they have imposed +their manners and their institutions upon +the conquerors; they have given them much, and +received but little in return. The first invaders, +after having undergone this change, were expelled; +the same fate is now threatening the second.<a name="FNanchor-59" id="FNanchor-59"></a><a href="#Footnote-59" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 59.">[59]</a> +In<span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden"><a name="page165" id="page165">[Pg 165]</a></span> +this case the vanquished were intellectually and +numerically superior to their victors. I shall mention +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page166" id="page166">[Pg 166]</a></span>another case where the victors, though intellectually +superior, are not possessed of sufficient +numerical strength to transform the intellectual +and moral character of the vanquished.</p> + +<p>The political supremacy of the British in Hindostan +is perfect, yet they exert little or no moral +influence over the masses they govern. All +that the utmost exertion of their power can effect +upon the fears of their subjects, is an outward +compliance. The notions of the Hindoo cannot +be replaced by European ideas—the spirit of +Hindoo civilization cannot be conquered by any +power, however great, of the law. Political forms +may change, and do change, without materially +affecting the basis upon which they rest; Hyderabad, +Lahore, and Delhi may cease to be capitals: +Hindoo society will subsist, nevertheless. A time +must come, sooner or later, when India will regain +a separate political existence, and publicly proclaim +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page167" id="page167">[Pg 167]</a></span>those laws of her own, which she now +secretly obeys, or of which she is tacitly left in +possession.</p> + +<p>The mere accident of conquest cannot destroy +the principle of vitality in a people. At most, it +may suspend for a time the exterior manifestations +of that vitality, and strip it of its outward honors. +But so long as the blood, and consequently the +culture of a nation, exhibit sufficiently strong +traces of the initiatory race, that nation exists; +and whether it has to deal, like the Chinese, with +conquerors who are superior only materially; or +whether, like the Hindoos, it maintains a struggle +of patience against a race much superior in every +respect; that nation may rest assured of its future—independence +will dawn for it one day. On the +contrary, when a nation has completely exhausted +the initiatory ethnical element, defeat is certain +death; it has consumed the term of existence +which Heaven had granted it—its destiny is +fulfilled.<a name="FNanchor-60" id="FNanchor-60"></a><a href="#Footnote-60" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 60.">[60]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page168" id="page168">[Pg 168]</a></span> +I, therefore, consider the question as settled, +which has been so often discussed, as to what<span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden;"><a name="page169" id="page169">[Pg 169]</a></span> +would have been the result, if the Carthaginians, +instead of succumbing to the fortune of Rome,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page170" id="page170">[Pg 170]</a></span> +had conquered Italy. As they belonged to the +Phenician family, a stock greatly inferior to the +Italian in political capacity, they would have been +absorbed by the superior race after the victory, +precisely as they were after the defeat. The final +result, therefore, would have been the same in +either case.</p> + +<p>The destiny of civilizations is not ruled by +accident; it depends not on the issue of a battle,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page171" id="page171">[Pg 171]</a></span> +a thrust of a sword, the favors or frowns of fickle +fortune. The most warlike, formidable, and triumphant +nations, when they were distinguished +for nothing but bravery, strategical science, and +military successes, have never had a nobler fate +than that of learning from their subjects, perhaps +too late, the art of living in peace. The Celts, +the nomad hordes of Central Asia, are memorable +illustrations of this truth.</p> + +<p>The whole of my demonstration now rests upon +one hypothesis, the proof of which I have reserved +for the succeeding chapters: <strong class="smcap">the moral +and intellectual diversities of the various +branches of the human family</strong>.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page172" id="page172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h3> + +<p class="center">THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY OF +RACES IS NOT THE RESULT OF POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS.</p> + +<p class="chapdesc">Antipathy of races—Results of their mixture—The scientific +axiom of the absolute equality of men, but an extension of +the political—Its fallacy—Universal belief in unequal endowment +of races—The moral and intellectual diversity of races +not attributable to institutions—Indigenous institutions are +the expression of popular sentiments; when foreign and +imported, they never prosper—Illustrations: England and +France—Roman Empire—European Colonies—Sandwich +Islands—St. Domingo—Jesuit missions in Paraguay.</p> + + +<p>The idea of an innate and permanent difference +in the moral and mental endowments of the various +groups of the human species, is one of the +most ancient, as well as universally adopted, opinions. +With few exceptions, and these mostly in +our own times, it has formed the basis of almost +all political theories, and has been the fundamental +maxim of government of every nation, great or +small. The prejudices of country have no other +cause; each nation believes in its own superiority<span class="pagenum"><a name="page173" id="page173">[Pg 173]</a></span> +over its neighbors, and very often different parts +of the same nation regard each other with contempt. +There seems to exist an instinctive antipathy +among the different races, and even among +the subdivisions of the same race, of which none +is entirely exempt, but which acts with the greatest +force in the least civilized or least civilizable. +We behold it in the characteristic suspiciousness +and hostility of the savage; in the isolation from +foreign influence and intercourse of the Chinese +and Japanese; in the various distinctions founded +upon birth in more civilized communities, such as +castes, orders of nobility and aristocratic privileges.<a name="FNanchor-61" id="FNanchor-61"></a><a href="#Footnote-61" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 61.">[61]</a> +Not even a common religion can extinguish +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page174" id="page174">[Pg 174]</a></span>the hereditary aversion of the Arab<a name="FNanchor-62" id="FNanchor-62"></a><a href="#Footnote-62" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 62.">[62]</a> to the +Turk, of the Kurd to the Nestorian of Syria; or +the bitter hostility of the Magyar and Sclave, who, +without intermingling, have inhabited the same<span class="pagenum"><a name="page175" id="page175">[Pg 175]</a></span> +country for centuries. But as the different types +lose their purity and become blended, this hostility +of race abates; the maxim of absolute and permanent +inequality is first discussed, then doubted. +A man of mixed race or caste will not be apt to +admit disparity in his double ancestry. The superiority +of particular types, and their consequent +claims to dominion, find fewer advocates. This +dominion is stigmatized as a tyrannical usurpation +of power.<a name="FNanchor-63" id="FNanchor-63"></a><a href="#Footnote-63" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 63.">[63]</a> The mixture of castes gives rise to +the political axiom that all men are equal, and, +therefore, entitled to the same rights. Indeed, +since there are no longer any distinct hereditary +classes, none can justly claim superior merit and +privileges. But this assertion, which is true only +where a complete fusion has taken place, is applied +to the whole human race—to all present, past, and +future generations. The political axiom of equality +which, like the bag of Æolus, contains so many +tempests, is soon followed by the scientific. It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page176" id="page176">[Pg 176]</a></span> +said—and the more heterogeneous the ethnical +elements of a nation are, the more extensively the +theory gains ground—that, "all branches of the +human family are endowed with intellectual capacities +of the same nature, which, though in different +stages of development, are all equally susceptible +of improvement." This is not, perhaps, +the precise language, but certainly the meaning. +Thus, the Huron, by proper culture, might become +the equal of the Englishman and Frenchman. +Why, then, I would ask, did he never, in the +course of centuries, invent the art of printing or +apply the power of steam; why, among the warriors +of his tribe, has there never arisen a Cæsar +or a Charlemagne, among his bards and medicine-men, +a Homer or a Hippocrates?</p> + +<p>These questions are generally met by advancing +the influence of climate, local circumstances, etc. +An island, it is said, can never be the theatre of +great social and political developments in the same +measure as a continent; the natives of a southern +clime will not display the energy of those of the +north; seacoasts and large navigable rivers will +promote a civilization which could never have +flourished in an inland region;—and a great deal +more to the same purpose. But all these ingenious +and plausible hypotheses are contradicted by facts.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page177" id="page177">[Pg 177]</a></span> +The same soil and the same climate have been +visited, alternately, by barbarism and civilization. +The degraded fellah is charred by the same sun +which once burnt the powerful priest of Memphis; +the learned professor of Berlin lectures +under the same inclement sky that witnessed the +miseries of the savage Finn.</p> + +<p>What is most curious is, that while the belief of +equality may influence institutions and manners, +there is not a nation, nor an individual but renders +homage to the contrary sentiment. Who has not +heard of the distinctive traits of the Frenchman, +the German, the Spaniard, the English, the Russ. +One is called sprightly and volatile, but brave; +the other is sober and meditative; a third is noted +for his gravity; a fourth is known by his coldness +and reserve, and his eagerness of gain; a fifth, on +the contrary, is notorious for reckless expense. I +shall not express any opinion upon the accuracy +of these distinctions, I merely point out that they +are made daily and adopted by common consent. +The same has been done in all ages. The Roman +of Italy distinguished the Roman of Greece by +the epithet <em>Græculus</em>, and attributed to him, as +characteristic peculiarities, want of courage and +boastful loquacity. He laughed at the colonist of +Carthage, whom he pretended to recognize among<span class="pagenum"><a name="page178" id="page178">[Pg 178]</a></span> +thousands by his litigious spirit and bad faith. +The Alexandrians passed for wily, insolent, and +seditious. Yet the doctrine of equality was as +universally received among the Romans of that +period as it is among ourselves. If, then, various +nations display qualities so different; if some are +eager for war and glory; others, lovers of their +ease and comfort, it follows that their destinies +must be very diverse. The strongest will act in +the great tragedy of history the roles of kings and +heroes, the weaker will be content with the humbler +parts.</p> + +<p>I do not believe that the ingenuity of our times +has succeeded in reconciling the universally adopted +belief in the special character of each nation +with the no less general conviction that they are +all equal. Yet this contradiction is very flagrant, +the more so as its partisans are not behindhand in +extolling the superiority of the Anglo-Saxons of +North America over all the other nations of the +same continent. It is true that they ascribe that +superiority to the influence of political institutions. +But they will hardly contest the characteristic +aptitude of the countrymen of Penn and Washington, +to establish wherever they go liberal forms of +government, and their still more valuable ability +to preserve them, when once established. Is not<span class="pagenum"><a name="page179" id="page179">[Pg 179]</a></span> +this a very high prerogative allotted to that branch +of the human family? the more precious, since so +few of the groups that have ever inhabited the +globe possessed it.</p> + +<p>I know that my opponents will not allow me an +easy victory. They will object to me the immense +potency of manners and institutions; they will +show me how much the spirit of the government, +by its inherent and irresistible force, influences the +development of a nation; how vastly different will +be its progress when fostered by liberty or crushed +by despotism. This argument, however, by no +means invalidates my position.</p> + +<p>Political institutions can have but two origins: +either they emanate from the people which is to be +governed by them, or they are the invention of a +foreign nation, by whom they are imposed, or from +whom they are copied.</p> + +<p>In the former case, the institutions are necessarily +moulded upon the instincts and wants of the +people; and if, through carelessness or ignorance, +they are in aught incompatible with either, such +defects will soon be removed or remedied. In +every independent community the law may be said +to emanate from the people; for though they have +not apparently the power of promulgating it, it +cannot be applicable to them unless it is consonant<span class="pagenum"><a name="page180" id="page180">[Pg 180]</a></span> +with their views and sentiments: it must be the +reflex of the national character.<a name="FNanchor-64" id="FNanchor-64"></a><a href="#Footnote-64" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 64.">[64]</a> The wise law-giver, +to whose superior genius his countrymen +seem solely indebted, has but given a voice to the +wants and desires of all. The mere theorist, like +Draco, finds his code a dead letter, and destined +soon to give place to the institutions of the more +judicious philosopher who would give to his compatriots +"not the best laws possible, but such +only as they were capable of receiving." When +Charles I., guided by the fatal counsels of the Earl +of Strafford, attempted to curb the English nation +under the yoke of absolutism, king and minister +were treading the bloody quagmire of theories. +But when Ferdinand the Catholic ordered those +terrible, but, in the then condition of the nation, +politically necessary persecutions of the Spanish +Moors, or when Napoleon re-established religion +and authority in France, and flattered the military +spirit of the nation—both these potentates had +rightly understood the genius of their subjects, +and were building upon a solid and practical +foundation.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page181" id="page181">[Pg 181]</a></span> +False institutions, often beautiful on paper, are +those which are not conformed to the national +virtues <em>or failings</em>, and consequently unsuitable +to the country, though perhaps perfectly practicable +and highly useful in a neighboring state. +Such institutions, were they borrowed from the +legislation of the angels, will produce nothing but +discord and anarchy. Others, on the contrary, +which the theorist will eschew, and the moralist +blame in many points, or perhaps throughout, may +be the best adapted to the community. Lycurgus +was no theorist; his laws were in strict accordance +with the spirit and manners of his countrymen.<a name="FNanchor-65" id="FNanchor-65"></a><a href="#Footnote-65" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 65.">[65]</a> +The Dorians of Sparta were few in number, valiant, +and rapacious; false institutions would have +made them but petty villains—Lycurgus changed +them into heroic brigands.<a name="FNanchor-66" id="FNanchor-66"></a><a href="#Footnote-66" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 66.">[66]</a></p> + +<p>The influence of laws and political institutions +is certainly very great; they preserve and invigorate +the genius of a nation, define its objects, and +help to attain them; but though they may develop<span class="pagenum"><a name="page182" id="page182">[Pg 182]</a></span> +powers, they cannot create them where they do not +already exist. They first receive their imprint +from the nation, and then return and confirm it. +In other words, it is the nation that fashions the +laws, before the laws, in turn, can fashion the nation. +Another proof of this fact are the changes and modifications +which they undergo in the course of time.</p> + +<p>I have already said above, that in proportion as +nations advance in civilization, and extend their +territory and power, their ethnical character, and, +with it, their instincts, undergo a gradual alteration. +New manners and new tendencies prevail, +and soon give rise to a series of modifications, the +more frequent and radical as the influx of blood +becomes greater and the fusion more complete.</p> + +<p>England, where the ethnical changes have been +slower and less considerable than in any other European +country, preserves to this day the basis of +the social system of the fourteenth and fifteenth +centuries. The municipal organization of the times +of the Plantagenets and the Tudors flourishes in +almost all its ancient vigor. There is the same +participation of the nobility in the government, +and the same manner of composing that nobility; +the same respect for ancient families, united to an +appreciation of those whose merits raise them +above their class. Since the accession of James I.,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page183" id="page183">[Pg 183]</a></span> +and still more since the union, in Queen Anne's +reign, there has indeed been an influx of Scotch +and Irish blood; foreign nations have also, though +imperceptibly, furnished their contingent to the +mixture; alterations have consequently become +more frequent of late, but without, as yet, touching +the original spirit of the constitution.</p> + +<p>In France, the ethnical elements are much more +numerous, and their mixtures more varied; and +there it has repeatedly happened that the principal +power of the state passed suddenly from the hands +of one race to those of another. Changes, rather +than modifications, have therefore taken place in +the social and political system; and the changes +were abrupt or radical, in proportion as these races +were more or less dissimilar. So long as the north +of France, where the Germanic element prevailed, +preponderated in the policy of the country, the +fabric of feudalism, or rather its inform remains, +maintained their ground. After the expulsion of +the English in the fifteenth century, the provinces +of the centre took the lead. Their efforts, under +the guidance of Charles VII., had recently restored +the national independence, and the Gallo-Roman +blood naturally predominated in camp and council. +From this time dates the introduction of the +taste for military life and foreign conquests, peculiar +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page184" id="page184">[Pg 184]</a></span>to the Celtic race, and the tendency to concentrate +and consolidate the sovereign authority, +which characterized the Roman. The road being +thus prepared, the next step towards the establishment +of absolute power was made at the end of +the sixteenth century, by the Aquitanian followers +of Henry IV., who had still more of the Roman +than of the Celtic blood in their veins. The centralization +of power, resulting from the ascendency +of the southern populations, soon gave Paris an +overweening preponderance, and finally made it, +what it now is, the sovereign of the state. This +great capital, this modern Babel, whose population +is a motley compound of all the most varied ethnical +elements, no longer had any motive to love or +respect any tradition or peculiar tendency, and, +coming to a complete rupture with the past, hurried +France into a series of political and social +experiments of doctrines the most remote from, +and repulsive to, the ancient customs and traditional +tendencies of the realm.</p> + +<p>These examples seem to me sufficient to prove +that political institutions, when not imposed by +foreign influence, take their mould from the national +character, not only in the first place, but +throughout all subsequent changes. Let us now +examine the second case, when a foreign code is,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page185" id="page185">[Pg 185]</a></span> +<i>nolens volens</i>, forced upon a nation by a superior +power.</p> + +<p>There are few instances of such attempts. Indeed, +they were never made on a grand scale, by +any truly sagacious governments of either ancient +or modern times. The Romans were too politic +to indulge in such hazardous experiments. Alexander, +before them, had never ventured it, and his +successors, convinced, either by reason or instinct, of +the futility of such efforts, had been contented to +reign, like the conqueror of Darius, over a vast +mosaic of nations, each of which retained its own +habits, manners, laws, and administrative forms, +and, at least so long as it preserved its ethnical +identity, resembled its fellow-subjects in nothing +but submission to the same fiscal and military +regulations.</p> + +<p>There were, it is true, among the nations subdued +by the Romans, some whose codes contained +practices so utterly repugnant to their masters, +that the latter could not possibly have tolerated +them. Such were the human sacrifices of the +Druids, which were, indeed, visited with the severest +penalties. But the Romans, with all their +power, never succeeded in completely extirpating +this barbarous rite. In the Narbonnese, the victory +was easy, for the Gallic population had<span class="pagenum"><a name="page186" id="page186">[Pg 186]</a></span> +been almost completely replaced by Roman colonists; +but the more intact tribes of the interior +provinces made an obstinate resistance; and, in +the peninsula of Brittany, where, in the fourth century, +a British colony re-imported the ancient instincts +with the ancient blood, the population, in +spite of the Romans, continued, either from patriotism +or veneration for their ancient traditions, to +butcher fellow-beings on their altars, as often as +they could elude the vigilance of their masters. +All revolts began with the restoration of this +fearful feature of the national creed, and even +Christianity could not entirely efface its traces, +until after protracted and strenuous efforts. As +late as the seventeenth century, the shipwrecked +were murdered, and wrecks plundered in all the +maritime provinces where the Kimric blood had +preserved itself unmixed. These barbarous customs +were in accordance with the manners of a +race which, not being yet sufficiently admixed, +still remained true to its irrepressible instincts.</p> + +<p>One characteristic of European civilization is +its intolerance. Conscious of its pre-eminence, we +are prone to deny the existence of any other, or, +at least, to consider it as the standard of all. We +look with supreme contempt upon all nations that +are not within its pale, and when they fall under +our influence, we attempt to convert them to our<span class="pagenum"><a name="page187" id="page187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +views and modes of thinking. Institutions which +we know to be good and useful, but which persuasion +fails to propagate among nations to whose +instincts they are foreign, we force upon them by +the power of our arms. Where are the results? +Since the sixteenth century, when the European +spirit of discovery and conquest penetrated to the +east, it does not seem to have operated the slightest +change in the manners and mode of existence +of the populations which it subjected.</p> + +<p>I have already adduced the example of British +India. All the other European possessions present +the same spectacle. The aborigines of +Java, though completely subjugated by the +Dutch, have not yet made the first step towards +embracing the manners of their conquerors. +Java, at this day, preserves the social regulations +of the time of its independence. In South America, +where Spain ruled with unrestrained power +for centuries, what effect has it produced? The +ancient empires, it is true, are no longer; their +traces, even, are almost obliterated. But while +the native has not risen to the level of his conqueror, +the latter has been degraded by the mixture +of blood.<a name="FNanchor-67" id="FNanchor-67"></a><a href="#Footnote-67" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 67.">[67]</a> +In the North, a different method has<span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden"><a name="page188" id="page188">[Pg 188]</a></span> +been pursued, but with results equally negative; +nay, in the eyes of philanthropy, more deplorable;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page189" id="page189">[Pg 189]</a></span> +for, while the Spanish Indians have at least increased +in numbers,<a name="FNanchor-68" id="FNanchor-68"></a><a href="#Footnote-68" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 68.">[68]</a> and even mixed with their +masters, to the Red-Man of the North, the contact +with the Anglo-Saxon race has been death. The +feeble remnants of these wretched tribes are fast +disappearing, and disappearing as uncivilized, as +uncivilizable, as their ancestors. In Oceanica, the +same observation holds good. The number of +aborigines is daily diminishing. The European +may disarm them, and prevent them from doing +him injury, but change them he cannot. Where-ever +he is master, they no longer eat one another, +but they fill themselves with firewater, and this +novel species of brutishness is all they learn of +European civilization.</p> + +<p>There are, indeed, two governments framed by +nations of a different race, after our models: that +of the Sandwich Islands, and that of St. Domingo. +A glance at these two countries will complete the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page190" id="page190">[Pg 190]</a></span> +proof of the futility of any attempts to give to a +nation institutions not suggested by its own genius.</p> + +<p>In the Sandwich Islands, the representative system +shines with full lustre. We there find an Upper +House, a Lower House, a ministry who govern, +and a king who reigns; nothing is wanted. Yet +all this is mere decoration; the wheel-work that +moves the whole machine, the indispensable motive +power, is the corps of missionaries. To them alone +belongs the honor of finding the ideas, of presenting +them, and carrying them through, either by +their personal influence over their neophytes, or, +if need be, by threats. It may be doubted, however, +whether the missionaries, if they had no other +instruments but the king and chambers, would not, +after struggling for a while against the inaptitude +of their pupils, find themselves compelled to take +a more direct, and, consequently, more apparent +part in the management of affairs. This difficulty +is obviated by the establishment of a ministry +composed of Europeans, or half-bloods. Between +them and the missionaries, all public affairs are +prearranged; the rest is only for show. King +Kamehameha III. is, it seems, a man of ability. +For his own account, he has abandoned tattooing, +and although he has not yet succeeded in dissuading +all his courtiers from this agreeable practice,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page191" id="page191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +he enjoys the satisfaction of seeing their countenances +adorned with comparatively slight designs. +The mass of the nation, the country nobility and +common people, persist upon this as all other +points, in the ancient ideas and customs.<a name="FNanchor-69" id="FNanchor-69"></a><a href="#Footnote-69" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 69.">[69]</a> Still, a +variety of causes tend to daily increase the European +population of the Isles. The proximity of +California makes them a point of great interest to +the far-seeing energy of our nations. Runaway +sailors, and mutineers, are no longer the only +white colonists; merchants, speculators, adventurers +of all sorts, collect there in considerable +numbers, build houses, and become permanent +settlers. The native population is gradually becoming +absorbed in the mixture with the whites. +It is highly probable that, ere long, the present +representative form of government will be superseded +by an administration composed of delegates +from one or all of the great maritime powers.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page192" id="page192">[Pg 192]</a></span> +Of one thing I feel firmly convinced, that these +imported institutions will take firm root in the +country, but the day of their final triumph, by a +necessary synchronism, will be that of the extinction +of the native race.</p> + +<p>In St. Domingo, national independence is intact. +There are no missionaries exercising absolute, +though concealed, control, no foreign ministry +governing in the European spirit; everything is +left to the genius and inspiration of the population. +In the Spanish part of the island, this population +consists of mulattoes. I shall not speak of them. +They seem to imitate, in some fashion, the simplest +and easiest features of our civilization. Like all +half-breeds, they have a tendency to assimilate +with that branch of their genealogy which does +them most honor. They are, therefore, capable +of practising, in some degree, our usages. The +absolute question of the capacity of races cannot be +studied among them. Let us cross the mountain +ridge which separates the republic of Dominica +from the empire of Hayti.</p> + +<p>There we find institutions not only similar to +ours, but founded upon the most recent maxims +of our political wisdom. All that, since sixty +years, the voice of the most refined liberalism has +proclaimed in the deliberative assemblies of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page193" id="page193">[Pg 193]</a></span> +Europe, all that the most zealous friends of the +freedom and dignity of man have written, all the +declarations of rights and principles, have found +an echo on the banks of Artibonite. No trace of +Africa remains in the <em>written</em> laws, or the <em>official</em> +language; the recollections of the land of Ham +are <em>officially</em> expunged from every mind; once +more, the institutions are completely European. +Let us now examine how they harmonize with the +manners.</p> + +<p>What a contrast! The manners are as depraved, +as beastly, as ferocious as in Dahomey<a name="FNanchor-70" id="FNanchor-70"></a><a href="#Footnote-70" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 70.">[70]</a> or the country +of the Fellatahs. The same barbarous love of +ornament, combined with the same indifference to +form; beauty consists in color, and provided a garment +is of gaudy red, and adorned with imitation +gold, taste is little concerned with useless attention +to materials or fitness; and as for cleanliness, this +is a superfluity for which no one cares. You desire +an audience with some high functionary: you +are ushered into the presence of an athletic negro, +stretched on a wooden bench, his head wrapped +in a dirty, tattered handkerchief, and surmounted +by a three-cornered hat, profusely decorated with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page194" id="page194">[Pg 194]</a></span> +gold. The general apparel consists of an embroidered +coat (without suitable nether-garments), a +huge sword, and slippers. You converse with this +mass of flesh, and are anxious to discover what +ideas can occupy a mind under so unpromising an +exterior. You find an intellect of the lowest order +combined with the most savage pride, which can +be equalled only by as profound and incurable a +laziness. If the individual before you opens his +mouth, he will retail all the hackneyed common-places +that the papers have wearied you with for +the last half century. This barbarian knows them +by heart; he has very different interests, different +instincts; he has no ideas of his own. He will +talk like Baron Holbach, reason like Grimm, and +at the bottom has no serious care except chewing +tobacco, drinking spirits, butchering his enemies, +and propitiating his sorcerers. The rest of the +time he sleeps.</p> + +<p>The state is divided into two factions, not separated +by incompatibility of politics, but of color—the +negroes and the mulattoes. The latter, doubtless, +are superior in intelligence, as I have already +remarked with regard to the Dominicans. The +European blood has modified the nature of the +African, and in a community of whites, with good +models constantly before their eyes, these men<span class="pagenum"><a name="page195" id="page195">[Pg 195]</a></span> +might be converted into useful members of society. +But, unfortunately, the superiority of numbers +belongs at present to the negroes, and these, +though removed from Africa by several generations, +are the same as in their native clime. Their +supreme felicity is idleness; their supreme reason, +murder. Among the two divisions of the island +the most intense hatred has always prevailed. The +history of independent Hayti is nothing but a long +series of massacres: massacres of mulattoes by the +negroes, when the latter were strongest; of the +negroes by the mulattoes, when the power was in +their hands. The institutions, with all their boasted +liberality and philanthropy, are of no use whatever. +They sleep undisturbedly and impotently +upon the paper on which they were written, and +the savage instincts of the population reign supreme. +Conformably to the law of nature which +I pointed out before, the negro, who belongs to a +race exhibiting little aptitude for civilization, entertains +the most profound horror for all other +races. Thus we see the Haytien negroes energetically +repel the white man from their territory, +and forbid him even to enter it; they would also +drive out the mulattoes, and contemplate their +ultimate extermination. Hostility to the foreigner +is the <i>primum mobile</i> of their local policy. Owing<span class="pagenum"><a name="page196" id="page196">[Pg 196]</a></span> +to the innate laziness of the race, agriculture is +abandoned, industry not known even by name, +commerce drivelling; misery prevents the increase +of the population, while continual wars, insurrections, +and military executions diminish it continually. +The inevitable and not very remote +consequence of such a condition of things is to +convert into a desert a country whose fertility and +natural resources enriched generations of planters, +which in exports and commercial activity surpassed +even Cuba.<a name="FNanchor-71" id="FNanchor-71"></a><a href="#Footnote-71" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 71.">[71]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page197" id="page197">[Pg 197]</a></span> +These examples of St. Domingo and the Sandwich +Islands seem to me conclusive. I cannot, +however, forbear, before definitely leaving the subject, +from mentioning another analogous fact, the +peculiar character of which greatly confirms my +position. I allude to the attempts of the Jesuit +missionaries to civilize the natives of Paraguay.<a name="FNanchor-72" id="FNanchor-72"></a><a href="#Footnote-72" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 72.">[72]</a></p> + +<p>These missionaries, by their exalted intelligence +and self-sacrificing courage, have excited universal +admiration; and the most decided enemies of +their order have never refused them an unstinted +tribute of praise. If foreign institutions have ever +had the slightest chance of success with a nation, +these assuredly had it, based as they were upon<span class="pagenum"><a name="page198" id="page198">[Pg 198]</a></span> +the power of religious feelings, and supported and +applied with a tact as correct as it was refined. +The fathers were of the pretty general opinion +that barbarism was to nations what childhood is +to the individual, and that the more savage and +untutored we find a people, the younger we may +conclude them to be. To educate their neophytes +to adolescence, they therefore treated them like +children. Their government was as firm in its +views and commands as it was mild and affectionate +in its forms. The aborigines of the American +continent have generally a tendency to republicanism; +a monarchy or aristocracy is rarely found +among them, and then in a very restricted form. +The Guaranis of Paraguay did not differ, in this +respect, from their congeners. By a happy circumstance, +however, these tribes displayed rather more +intelligence and less ferocity than their neighbors, +and seemed capable, to some extent, of conceiving +new wants and adopting new ideas. About one +hundred and twenty thousand souls were collected +in the villages of the missions, under the guidance +of the fathers. All that experience, daily study, +and active charity could teach the Jesuits, was +employed for the benefit of their pupils; incessant +efforts were made to hasten success, without hazarding +it by rashness. In spite of all these cares,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page199" id="page199">[Pg 199]</a></span> +however, it was soon felt that the most absolute +authority over the neophytes could hardly constrain +them to persist in the right path, and occasions +were not wanting that revealed the little real +solidity of the edifice.<a name="FNanchor-73" id="FNanchor-73"></a><a href="#Footnote-73" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 73.">[73]</a></p> + +<p>When the measures of Count Aranda deprived +Paraguay of its pious and skilful civilizers, the +sad truth appeared in complete light. The Guaranis, +deprived of their spiritual guides, refused +all confidence in the lay directors sent them by the +Spanish crown. They showed no attachment to +their new institutions. Their taste for savage life +revived, and at present there are but thirty-seven<span class="pagenum"><a name="page200" id="page200">[Pg 200]</a></span> +little villages still vegetating on the banks of the +Parana, the Paraguay, and Uraguay, and these +contain a considerable nucleus of half-breed population. +The rest have returned to the forest, and +live there in as savage a state as the western tribes +of the same stock, the Guaranis and Cirionos. I +will not say that the deserters have readopted +their ancient manners completely, but there is little +trace left of the pious missionaries' labors, and +this because it is given to no human race to be +oblivious of its instincts, nor to abandon the path +in which the Creator has placed them.</p> + +<p>It may be supposed, had the Jesuits continued to +direct their missions in Paraguay, that their efforts, +assisted by time, would have been crowned with +better success. I am willing to concede this, but +on one condition only, always the same: that a +group of Europeans would gradually have settled +in the country under the protection of the Jesuit +directors. These would have modified, and finally +completely transformed the native blood, and a +state would have been formed, bearing probably +an aboriginal name, whose inhabitants might have +prided themselves upon descending from autochthonic +ancestors, though as completely belonging +to Europe as the institutions by which they might +be governed.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page201" id="page201">[Pg 201]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<p class="center">THIS DIVERSITY IS NOT THE RESULT OF GEOGRAPHICAL +SITUATION.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>America—Ancient empires—Phenicians and Romans—Jews—Greece +and Rome—Commercial cities of Europe—Isthmus of +Darien.</p></div> + + +<p>It is impossible to leave entirely out of the +question the influence which climate, the nature of +the soil, and topographical circumstances, exert +upon the development of nations. This influence, +so much overrated by many of the learned, I shall +investigate more fully, although I have rapidly +glanced at it already, in another place.</p> + +<p>It is a very common opinion that a nation living +under a temperate sky, not too warm to enervate +the man, nor too cold to render the soil unproductive; +on the shores of large rivers, affording extensive +and commodious means of communication; +in plains and valleys adapted to varied cultivation; +at the foot of mountains pregnant with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page202" id="page202">[Pg 202]</a></span> +useful and precious ores—that a nation thus favored +by nature, would soon be prompted to cast off +barbarism, and progress rapidly in civilization.<a name="FNanchor-74" id="FNanchor-74"></a><a href="#Footnote-74" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 74.">[74]</a> +On the other hand, and by the same reasoning, it +is easily admitted that tribes, charred by an ardent +sun, or benumbed by unceasing cold, and having +no territory save sterile rocks, would be much +more liable to remain in a state of barbarism. +According to this hypothesis, the intellectual powers +of man could be developed only by the aid of +external nature, and all his worth and greatness +are not implanted in him, but in the objects without +and around. Specious as is this opinion at +first sight, it has against it all the numerous facts +which observation furnishes.</p> + +<p>Nowhere, certainly, is there a greater variety of +soil and climate than in the extensive Western Continent. +Nowhere are there more fertile regions, +milder skies, larger and more numerous rivers. +The coasts are indented with gulfs and bays; deep +and magnificent harbors abound; the most valuable +riches of the mineral kingdom crop out of the +ground; nature has lavished on the soil her +choicest and most variegated vegetable productions, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page203" id="page203">[Pg 203]</a></span>and the woods and prairies swarm with alimentary +species of animals, presenting still more +substantial resources. And yet, the greater part +of these happy countries is inhabited, and has been +for a series of centuries, by tribes who ignore the +most mediocre exploration of all these treasures.</p> + +<p>Several of them seem to have been in the way +of doing better. A meagre culture, a rude knowledge +of the art of working metals, may be observed +in more than one place. Several useful +arts, practised with some ingenuity, still surprise +the traveller. But all this is really on a very +humble scale, and never formed what might be +termed a civilization. There certainly has existed +at some very remote period, a nation which inhabited +the vast region extending from Lake Erie +to the Mexican Gulf. There can be no doubt that +the country lying between the Alleghany and the +Rocky Mountains, and extending from Lake Erie +to the Gulf of Mexico, was, at some very remote +epoch, inhabited by a nation that has left remarkable +traces of its existence behind.<a name="FNanchor-75" id="FNanchor-75"></a><a href="#Footnote-75" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 75.">[75]</a> The remains<span class="pagenum"><a name="page204" id="page204">[Pg 204]</a></span> +of buildings, inscriptions on rocks, the tumuli,<a name="FNanchor-76" id="FNanchor-76"></a><a href="#Footnote-76" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 76.">[76]</a> +and mummies which they inclose, indicate a high +degree of intellectual culture. But there is no +evidence that between this mysterious people and +the tribes now wandering over its tombs, there is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page205" id="page205">[Pg 205]</a></span> +any very near affinity. However this may be, if by +inheritance or slavish imitation the now existing +aborigines derive their first knowledge of the arts +which they now rudely practise, from the former +masters of the soil, we cannot but be struck by +their incapacity of perfecting what they had been +taught; and I see in this a new motive for adhering +to my opinion, that a nation placed amid the +most favorable geographical circumstances, is not, +therefore, destined to arrive at civilization.</p> + +<p>On the contrary, there is between the propitiousness +of soil and climate and the establishment +of civilization, a complete independence. India +was a country which required fertilization; so was +Egypt.<a name="FNanchor-77" id="FNanchor-77"></a><a href="#Footnote-77" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 77.">[77]</a> Here we have two very celebrated centres +of human culture and development. China, +though very productive in some parts, presented +in others difficulties of a very serious character. +The first events recorded in its history are struggles +with rivers that had burst their bonds; its +heroes are victors over the ruthless flood; the ancient +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page206" id="page206">[Pg 206]</a></span>emperors distinguished themselves by excavating +canals and draining marshes. The country +of the Tigris and Euphrates, the theatre of Assyrian +splendor and hallowed by our most sacred +traditions, those regions where, Syncellus says, +wheat grew spontaneously, possess a soil so little +productive, when unassisted by art, that only a +vast and laborious system of irrigation can render +it capable of giving the means of subsistence to +its inhabitants. Now that the canals are filled up +or obstructed, sterility has reassumed its former +dominion. I am, therefore, inclined to think that +nature had not so greatly favored these countries +as is usually supposed. Yet, I shall not discuss +this point.</p> + +<p>I am willing to admit that China, Egypt, India, +and Mesopotamia were regions perfectly adapted +in every respect to the establishment of great empires, +and the consequent development of brilliant +civilizations. But it cannot be disputed that these +nations, to profit by these superior advantages, +must have previously brought their social system +to a high degree of perfection. Before the great +watercourses became the highways of commerce, +industry, or at least agriculture, must have flourished +to some extent. The great advantages accorded +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page207" id="page207">[Pg 207]</a></span>to these countries presuppose, therefore, +in the nations that have profited by them, a peculiar +intellectual vocation, and even a certain anterior +degree of civilization. But from these specially +favored regions let us glance elsewhere.</p> + +<p>When the Phenicians migrated from the southeast, +they fixed their abode on an arid, rocky +coast, inclosed by steep and ragged mountains. +Such a geographical situation would appear to +preclude a people from any expansion, and force +them to remain forever dependent on the produce +of their fisheries for sustenance. The utmost that +could be expected of them was to see them petty +pirates. They were pirates, indeed, but on a magnificent +scale; and, what is more, they were bold +and successful merchants and speculators. They +planted colonies everywhere, while the barren +rocks of the mother country were covered with the +palaces and temples of a wealthy and luxurious +community. Some will say, that "the very unpropitiousness +of external circumstances forced the +founders of Tyre and Sidon to become what they +were. Necessity is the mother of invention; their +misery spurred them on to exertion; had they inhabited +the plains of Damascus, they would have +been content with the peaceful products of agriculture, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page208" id="page208">[Pg 208]</a></span>and would probably never have become an +illustrious nation."<a name="FNanchor-78" id="FNanchor-78"></a><a href="#Footnote-78" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 78.">[78]</a></p> + +<p>And why does not misery spur on other nations +placed under similar circumstances? The Kabyles +of Morocco are an ancient race; they have had +sufficient time for reflection, and, moreover, every +possible inducement for mere imitation; yet they +have never imagined any other method for alleviating +their wretched lot except petty piracy. The +unparalleled facilities for commerce afforded by the +Indian archipelago and the island clusters of the +Pacific, have never been improved by the natives; +all the peaceful and profitable relations were left +in the hands of foreign races—the Chinese, Malays, +and Arabs; where commerce has fallen into the +hands of a semi-indigenous or half-breed population, +it has instantly commenced to languish. +What conclusions can we deduce from these observations +than that pressing wants are not sufficient +for inciting a nation to profit by the natural +facilities of its coasts and islands, and that some +special aptitude is needed for establishing a commercial +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page209" id="page209">[Pg 209]</a></span>state even in localities best adapted for +that purpose.</p> + +<p>But I shall not content myself with proving that +the social and political aptitudes of races are not +dependent on geographical situations, whether these +be favorable or unfavorable; I shall, moreover, +endeavor to show that these aptitudes have no sort +of relation with any exterior circumstances. The +Armenians, in their almost inaccessible mountains, +where so many other nations have vegetated in a +state of barbarism from generation to generation, +and without any access to the sea, attained, already +at a remote period, a high state of civilization. The +Jews found themselves in an analogous position; +they were surrounded by tribes who spoke kindred +dialects, and who, for the most part, were nearly +related to them in blood. Yet, they excelled all +these groups. They were warriors, agriculturists, +and merchants. Under a government in which +theocracy, monarchy, patriarchal authority, and +popular will, were singularly complicated and +balanced, they traversed centuries of prosperity +and glory. The difficulties which the narrow +limits of their patrimonial domain opposed to +their expansion, were overcome by an intelligent +system of emigration. What was this famous +Canaan? Modern travellers bear witness to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page210" id="page210">[Pg 210]</a></span> +laborious and well-directed efforts by which the +Jewish agriculturists maintained the factitious +fertility of their soil. Since the chosen race no +longer inhabits these mountains and plains, the +wells where Jacob's flocks drank are dried up; +Naboth's vineyard is invaded by the desert, +Achab's palace-gardens filled with thistles. In +this miserable corner of the world, what were the +Jews? A people dextrous in all they undertook, +a free, powerful, intelligent people, who, before +losing bravely, and against a much superior foe, +the title of independent nation, had furnished to +the world almost as many doctors as merchants.<a name="FNanchor-79" id="FNanchor-79"></a><a href="#Footnote-79" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 79.">[79]</a></p> + +<p>Let us look at Greece. Arcadia was the paradise +of the shepherd, and Bœotia, the favored land +of Ceres and Triptolemus: yet, Arcadia and Bœotia +play but a very inferior part in history. The +wealthy Corinth, the favorite of Plutus and Venus, +also appears in the second rank. To whom pertains +the glory of Grecian history? To Attica, +whose whitish, sandy soil afforded a scanty sustenance +to puny olive-trees; to Athens, whose principal +commerce consisted in books and statues. +Then to Sparta, shut up in a narrow valley between +masses of rocks, where victory went in search of it.</p> + +<p>Who would dare to assert that Rome owed her<span class="pagenum"><a name="page211" id="page211">[Pg 211]</a></span> +universal empire to her geographical position? In +the poor district of Latium, on the banks of a tiny +stream emptying its waters on an almost unknown +coast, where neither Greek nor Phenician vessel +ever landed, except by accident, the future mistress +of the world was born. So soon as the nations +of the earth obeyed the Roman standard, +politicians found the metropolis ill-placed, and +the eternal city was neglected: even abandoned. +The first emperors, being chiefly occupied with the +East, resided in Greece almost continually. Tiberius +chose Caprea, in the centre of his empire. His +successors went to Antioch. Several lived at Trebia. +Finally, a decree deprived Rome of the very name +of capital, and gave it to Milan. If the Romans +have conquered the world, it is certainly in spite +of the locality whence issued forth their first armies, +and not on account of its advantages.</p> + +<p>In modern history, the proofs of the correctness +of my position are so abundant, that I +hardly know how to select. I see prosperity +abandoning the coasts of the Mediterranean, evidence +that it was not dependent on them. The +great commercial cities of the Middle Ages rise +where no theorist of a preceding age could have +predicted them. Novogorod flourishes in an almost +arctic region, Bremen on a coast nearly as cold.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page212" id="page212">[Pg 212]</a></span> +The Hanse-towns of Germany rise in a country +where civilization has scarcely dawned; Venice +appears at the head of a long, narrow gulf. Political +preponderance belongs to places before unknown. +Lyons, Toulouse, Narbonne, Marseilles, +Bordeaux, lose the importance assigned them by +the Romans, and Paris becomes the metropolis—Paris, +then a third-rate town, too far from the sea +for commerce, too near it for the Norman barges. +In Italy, cities formerly obscure, surpass the capital +of the popes. Ravenna rises in the midst of +marshes; Amalfi, for a long time, enjoys extensive +dominion. It must be observed, that in all these +changes accident has no part: they all are the +result of the presence of a victorious and preponderating +race. It is not the place which determines +the importance of a nation, it is the nation which +gives to the place its political and economical importance.</p> + +<p>I do not, however, deny the importance of certain +situations for commercial depots, or for capitals. +The observations made with regard to +Alexandria and Constantinople, are incontestable.<a name="FNanchor-80" id="FNanchor-80"></a><a href="#Footnote-80" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 80.">[80]</a> +There are, upon our globe, various points which +may be called the keys of the world. Thus, it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page213" id="page213">[Pg 213]</a></span> +obvious that a city, built on the proposed canal +which is to pierce the Isthmus of Darien, would +act an important part in the affairs of the world.</p> + +<p>But, such a part a nation may act well or badly, +or even not at all, according to its merits. Aggrandize +Chagres, and let the two oceans unite under +her walls, the destiny of the city would depend +entirely on the race by which it was peopled. If +this race be worthy of their good fortune, they will +soon discover whether Chagres be the point whence +the greatest benefits can be derived from the union +of the two oceans; and, if it is not, they will leave +it, and then, untrammelled, develop elsewhere their +brilliant destinies.<a name="FNanchor-81" id="FNanchor-81"></a><a href="#Footnote-81" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 81.">[81]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden;"><a name="page214" id="page214">[Pg 214]</a></span></p> + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page215" id="page215">[Pg 215]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<p class="center">INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY UPON MORAL AND +INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY OF RACES.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>The term Christian civilization examined—Reasons for rejecting +it—Intellectual diversity no hindrance to the universal diffusion +of Christianity—Civilizing influence of Christian religion +by elevating and purifying the morals, etc.; but does not +remove intellectual disparities—Various instances—Cherokees—Difference +between imitation and comprehension of +civilized life.</p></div> + + +<p>By the foregoing observations, two facts seem +to me clearly established: first, that there are +branches of the human family incapable of spontaneous +civilization, so long as they remain unmixed; +and, secondly, that this innate incapacity +cannot be overcome by external agencies, however +powerful in their nature. It now remains to speak +of the civilizing influence of Christianity, a subject +which, on account of its extensive bearing, I have +reserved for the last, in my consideration of the +instruments of civilization.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page216" id="page216">[Pg 216]</a></span> +The first question that suggests itself to the +thinking mind, is a startling one. If some races +are so vastly inferior in all respects, can they comprehend +the truths of the gospel, or are they forever +to be debarred from the blessing of salvation?</p> + +<p>In answer, I unhesitatingly declare my firm +conviction, that the pale of salvation is open to +them all, and that all are endowed with equal +capacity to enter it. Writers are not wanting +who have asserted a contrary opinion. They dare +to contradict the sacred promise of the Gospel, and +deny the peculiar characteristic of our faith, which +consists in its accessibility to all men. According +to them, religions are confined within geographical +limits which they cannot transgress. But the +Christian religion knows no degrees of latitude or +longitude. There is scarcely a nation, or a tribe, +among whom it has not made converts. Statistics—imperfect, +no doubt, but, as far as they go, reliable—show +them in great numbers in the remotest +parts of the globe: nomad Mongols, in the steppes +of Asia, savage hunters in the table-lands of the +Andes; dark-hued natives of an African clime; +persecuted in China;<a name="FNanchor-82" id="FNanchor-82"></a><a href="#Footnote-82" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 82.">[82]</a> tortured in Madagascar; +perishing under the lash in Japan.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page217" id="page217">[Pg 217]</a></span> +But this universal capacity of receiving the +light of the gospel must not be confounded, as is +so often done, with a faculty of entirely different +character, that of social improvement. This latter +consists in being able to conceive new wants, +which, being supplied, give rise to others, and +gradually produce that perfection of the social and +political system which we call civilization. While +the former belongs equally to all races, whatever +may be their disparity in other respects, the latter +is of a purely intellectual character, and the prerogative +of certain privileged groups, to the partial +or even total exclusion of others.</p> + +<p>With regard to Christianity, intellectual deficiencies +cannot be a hindrance to a race. Our +religion addresses itself to the lowly and simple, +even in preference to the great and wise of this +earth. Intellect and learning are not necessary<span class="pagenum"><a name="page218" id="page218">[Pg 218]</a></span> +to salvation. The most brilliant lights of our +church were not always found among the body +of the learned. The glorious martyrs, whom we +venerate even above the skilful and erudite defender +of the dogma, or the eloquent panegyrist of +the faith, were men who sprang from the masses of +the people; men, distinguished neither for worldly +learning, nor brilliant talents, but for the simple +virtues of their lives, their unwavering faith, their +self-devotion. It is exactly in this that consists +one great superiority of our religion over the +most elaborate and ingenious systems devised by +philosophers, that it is intelligible to the humblest +capacity as well as to the highest. The poor +Esquimaux of Labrador may be as good and as +pure a Christian as the most learned prelate in +Europe.</p> + +<p>But we now come to an error which, in its various +phases, has led to serious consequences. The +utilitarian tendency of our age renders us prone +to seek, even in things sacred, a character of material +usefulness. We ascribe to the influence of +Christianity a certain order of things, which we +call <em>Christian civilization</em>.</p> + +<p>To what political or social condition this term +can be fitly applied, I confess myself unable to +conceive. There certainly is a Pagan, a Brahmin,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page219" id="page219">[Pg 219]</a></span> +and Buddhistic, a Judaic civilization. There have +been, and still are, societies so intimately connected +with a more or less exclusive theological formula, +that the civilizations peculiar to them, can only be +designated by the name of their creed. In such +societies, religion is the sole source of all political +forms, all civil and social legislation; the groundwork +of the whole civilization. This union of religious +and temporal institutions, we find in the history +of every nation of antiquity. Each country had its +own peculiar divinity, which exercised a more or +less direct influence in the government,<a name="FNanchor-83" id="FNanchor-83"></a><a href="#Footnote-83" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 83.">[83]</a> and from<span class="pagenum"><a name="page220" id="page220">[Pg 220]</a></span> +which laws and civilization were said to be immediately +derived. It was only when paganism began +to wane, that the politicians of Rome imagined a +separation of temporal and religious power, by +attempting a fusion of the different forms of worship, +and proclaiming the dogma of legal toleration. +When paganism was in its youth and vigor, each +city had its Jupiter, Mercury, or Venus, and the +local deity recognized neither in this world nor +the next any but compatriots.</p> + +<p>But, with Christianity, it is otherwise. It chooses +no particular people, prescribes no form of government, +no social system. It interferes not in temporal +matters, has naught to do with the material<span class="pagenum"><a name="page221" id="page221">[Pg 221]</a></span> +world, "its kingdom is of another." Provided it +succeeds in changing the interior man, external +circumstances are of no import. If the convert +fervently embraces the faith, and in all his actions +tries to observe its prescriptions, it inquires not +about the built of his dwelling, the cut of his +garments, or the materials of which they are composed, +his daily occupations, the regulations of his +government, the degree of despotism, or of freedom, +which pervades his political institutions. It +leaves the Chinese in his robes, the Esquimaux in +his seal-skins; the former to his rice, the latter to +his fish-oil; and who would dare to assert that the +prayers of both may not breathe as pure a faith +as those of the <em>civilized</em> European? No mode of +existence can attract its preference, none, however +humble, its disdain. It attacks no form of government, +no social institution; prescribes none, because +it has adopted none. It teaches not the art +of promoting worldly comforts, it teaches to despise +them. What, then, can we call a Christian +civilization? Had Christ, or his disciples, prescribed, +or even recommended any particular +political or social forms,<a name="FNanchor-84" id="FNanchor-84"></a><a href="#Footnote-84" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 84.">[84]</a> the term would then be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page222" id="page222">[Pg 222]</a></span> +applicable. But his law may be observed under +all—of whatever nature—and is therefore superior +to them all. It is justly and truly called the +<em>Catholic</em>, or Universal.</p> + +<p>And has Christianity, then, no civilizing influence? +I shall be asked. Undoubtedly; and a +very great one. Its precepts elevate and purify +the soul, and, by their purely spiritual nature, disengage +the mind from worldly things, and expand +its powers. In a merely human point of view, +the material benefits it confers on its followers are +inestimable. It softens the manners, and facilitates +the intercourse between man and his fellow-man; +it mitigates violence, and weans him from corrosive +vices. It is, therefore, a powerful promoter +of his worldly interests. But it only expands the +mind in proportion to the susceptibility of the +mind for being expanded. It does not give intellect, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page223" id="page223">[Pg 223]</a></span>or confer talents, though it may exalt both, +and render them more useful. It does not create +new capacities, though it fosters and develops +those it finds. Where the capacities of an individual, +or a race, are such as to admit an improvement +in the mode of existence, it tends to +produce it; where such capacities are not already, +it does not give them. As it belongs to no particular +civilization, it does not compel a nation to +change its own. In fine, as it does not level all +individuals to the same intellectual standard, so it +does not raise all races to the same rank in the +political assemblage of the nations of the earth. +It is wrong, therefore, to consider the equal aptitude +of all races for the true religion, as a proof +of their intellectual equality. Though having embraced +it, they will still display the same characteristic +differences, and divergent or even opposite +tendencies. A few examples will suffice to set my +idea in a clearer light.</p> + +<p>The major portion of the Indian tribes of South +America have, for centuries, been received within +the pale of the church, yet the European civilization, +with which they are in constant contact, has +never become their own.<a name="FNanchor-85" id="FNanchor-85"></a><a href="#Footnote-85" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 85.">[85]</a> The Cherokees, in the +northern part of the same continent, have nearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page224" id="page224">[Pg 224]</a></span> +all been converted by the Methodist missionaries. +At this I am not surprised, but I should be greatly +so, if these tribes, without mixing with the whites, +were ever to form one of the States, and exercise +any influence in Congress. The Moravians and +Danish Lutheran missionaries in Labrador and +Greenland, have opened the eyes of the Esquimaux +to the light of religion; but their neophytes +have remained in the same social condition in +which they vegetated before. A still more forcible +illustration is afforded by the Laplanders of +Sweden, who have not emerged from the state of +barbarism of their ancestors, though the doctrine +of salvation was preached to them, and believed +by them, centuries ago.</p> + +<p>I sincerely believe that all these peoples may +produce, and, perhaps, already have produced, +persons remarkable for piety and pure morals; +but I do not expect ever to see among them learned +theologians, great statesmen, able military leaders, +profound mathematicians, or distinguished artists;—any +of those superior minds, whose number and +perpetual succession are the cause of power in a +preponderating race; much less those rare geniuses +whose meteor-like appearance is productive of +permanent good only when their countrymen are +so constituted as to be able to understand them,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page225" id="page225">[Pg 225]</a></span> +and to advance under their direction. We cannot, +therefore, call Christianity a promoter of civilization +in the narrow and purely material sense of +some writers.</p> + +<p>Many of my readers, while admitting my observations +in the main to be correct, will object that +the modifying influence of religion upon the manners +must produce a corresponding modification +of the institutions, and finally in the whole social +system. The propagators of the gospel, they will +say, are almost always—though not necessarily—from +a nation superior in civilization to the one +they visit. In their personal intercourse, therefore, +with their neophytes, the latter cannot but +acquire new notions of material well-being. Even +the political system may be greatly influenced by +the relations between instructor and pupil. The +missionary, while he provides for the spiritual +welfare of his flock, will not either neglect their +material wants. By his teaching and example, +the savage will learn how to provide against +famine, by tilling the soil. This improvement in +his condition once effected, he will soon be led to +build himself a better dwelling, and to practise +some of the simpler useful arts. Gradually, and +by careful training, he may acquire sufficient taste +for things purely intellectual, to learn the alphabet, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page226" id="page226">[Pg 226]</a></span>or even, as in the case of the Cherokees, to +invent one himself. In course of time, if the +missionaries' labors are crowned with success, they +may, perhaps, so firmly implant their manners +and mode of living among this formerly savage +tribe, that the traveller will find among them well-cultivated +fields, numerous flocks, and, like these +same Cherokees, and the Creeks on the southern +banks of the Arkansas, black slaves to work on +their plantations.</p> + +<p>Let us see how far facts correspond with this +plausible argument. I shall select the two nations +which are cited as being the furthest advanced in +European civilization, and their example will, it +seems to me, demonstrate beyond a doubt, how +impossible it is for any race to pursue a career in +which their own nature has not placed them.</p> + +<p>The Cherokees and Creeks are said to be the +remnants or descendants of the Alleghanian Race, +the supposed builders of those great monuments +of which we still find traces in the Mississippi +Valley. If this be the case, these two nations may +lay claim to a natural superiority over the other +tribes of North America.</p> + +<p>Deprived of their hereditary dominions by the +American government, they were forced—under a +treaty of transplantation—to emigrate to regions<span class="pagenum"><a name="page227" id="page227">[Pg 227]</a></span> +selected for them by the latter. There they were +placed under the superintendence of the Minister +of War, and of Protestant missionaries, who finally +succeeded in persuading them to embrace the mode +of life they now lead. Mr. Prichard,<a name="FNanchor-86" id="FNanchor-86"></a><a href="#Footnote-86" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 86.">[86]</a> my authority +for these facts, and who derives them himself from +the great work of Mr. Gallatin,<a name="FNanchor-87" id="FNanchor-87"></a><a href="#Footnote-87" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 87.">[87]</a> asserts that, while +all the other Indian tribes are continually diminishing, +these are steadily increasing in numbers. As +a proof of this, he alleges that when Adair visited +the Cherokee tribes, in 1762, the number of their +warriors was estimated at 2,300; at present, their +total population amounts to 15,000 souls, including +about 1,200 negroes in their possession. When +we consider that their schools, as well as churches, +are directed by white missionaries; that the greater +number of these missionaries—being Protestants—are +probably married and have children and servants +also white, besides, very likely, a sort of +retinue of clerks and other European employees;—the +increase of the aboriginal population becomes +extremely doubtful,<a name="FNanchor-88" id="FNanchor-88"></a><a href="#Footnote-88" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 88.">[88]</a> while it is easy to conceive the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page228" id="page228">[Pg 228]</a></span> +pressure of the white race upon its pupils. Surrounded +on all sides by the power of the United +States, incommensurable to their imagination; +converted to the religion of their masters, which +they have, I think, sincerely embraced; treated +kindly and judiciously by their spiritual guides; +and exposed to the alternation of working or of +starving in their contracted territory;—I can understand +that it was possible to make them tillers +of the earth.</p> + +<p>It would be underrating the intelligence of the +humblest, meanest specimen of our kind, to +express surprise at such a result, when we see +that, by dexterously and patiently acting upon +the passions and wants of animals, we succeed +in teaching them what their own instincts +would never have taught them. Every village<span class="pagenum"><a name="page229" id="page229">[Pg 229]</a></span> +fair is filled with animals which are trained to +perform the oddest tricks, and is it to be wondered +at that men submitted to a rigorous system of +training, and deprived of the means of escaping +from it, should, in the end, be made to perform +certain mechanical functions of civilized life; +functions which, even in the savage state, they are +capable of understanding, though they have not +the will to practise them? This were placing +human beings lower in the scale of creation than +the learned pig, or Mr. Leonard's domino-playing +dogs.<a name="FNanchor-89" id="FNanchor-89"></a><a href="#Footnote-89" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 89.">[89]</a> Such exultation on the part of the believers +in the equality of races is little flattering to those +who excite it.</p> + +<p>I am aware that this exaggeration of the intellectual +capacity of certain races is in a great +measure provoked by the notions of some very +learned and distinguished men, who pretend that +between the lowest races of men, and the highest +of apes there was but a shade of distinction. So<span class="pagenum"><a name="page230" id="page230">[Pg 230]</a></span> +gross an insult to the dignity of man, I indignantly +reject. Certainly, in my estimation, the different +races are very unequally endowed, both physically +and mentally; but I should be loath to think that +in any, even in the most degraded, the unmistakable +line of demarcation between man and +brute were effaced. I recognize no link of gradation +which would connect man mentally with the +brute creation.</p> + +<p>But does it follow, that because the lowest of +the human species is still unmistakably human, that +all of that species are capable of the same development? +Take a Bushman, the most hideous and +stupid of human families, and by careful training +you may teach him, or if he is already adult, his +son, to learn and practise a handicraft, even one +that requires a certain degree of intelligence. But +are we warranted thence to conclude that the nation +to which this individual belongs, is susceptible +of adopting our civilization? There is a vast +difference between mechanically practising handicrafts +and arts, the products of an advanced civilization, +and that civilization itself. Let us suppose +that the Cherokee tribes were suddenly cut +off from all connection with the American government, +the traveller, a few years hence, would find +among them very unexpected and singular institutions, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page231" id="page231">[Pg 231]</a></span>resulting from their mixture with the +whites, but partaking only feebly of the character +of European civilization.</p> + +<p>We often hear of negroes proficient in music, +negroes who are clerks in counting-rooms, who +can read, write, talk like the whites. We admire, +and conclude that the negroes are capable of everything +that whites are. Notwithstanding this admiration +and these hasty conclusions, we express +surprise at the contrast of Sclavonian civilization +with ours. We aver that the Russian, Polish, Servish +nations, are civilized only at the surface, that +none but the higher classes are in possession of +our ideas, and this, thanks to their intermixture +with the English, French, and German stock; that +the masses, on the contrary, evince a hopeless inaptitude +for participating in the forward movement +of Western Europe, although these masses have +been Christians for centuries, many of them while +our ancestors were heathens. Are the negroes, +then, more closely allied to our race than the Sclavonic +nations? On the one hand, we assert the +intellectual equality of the white and black races; +on the other, a disparity among subdivisions of +our own race.</p> + +<p>There is a vast difference between imitation and +comprehension. The imitation of a civilization does<span class="pagenum"><a name="page232" id="page232">[Pg 232]</a></span> +not necessarily imply an eradication of the hereditary +instincts. A <em>nation</em> can be said to have adopted +a civilization, only when it has the power to progress +in it unprompted, and without guidance. Instead +of extolling the intelligence of savages in handling +a plough, after being shown; in spelling and reading, +after they have been taught; let a single example +be alleged of a tribe in any of the numerous +countries in contact with Europeans, which, with +our religion, has also made the ideas, institutions, +and manners of a European nation so completely +its own, that the whole social and political machinery +moves forward as easily and naturally as in +our States. Let an example be alleged of an extra-European +nation, among whom the art of printing +produces effects analogous to those it produces +among us; where new applications of our discoveries +are attempted; where our systems of philosophy +give birth to new systems; where our arts +and sciences flourish.</p> + +<p>But, no; I will be more moderate in my demands. +I shall not ask of that nation to adopt, together +with our faith, all in which consists our individuality. +I shall suppose that it rejects it totally, +and chooses one entirely different, adapted to its +peculiar genius and circumstances. When the +eyes of that nation open to the truths of the Gospel, +it perceives that its earthly course is as encumbered +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page233" id="page233">[Pg 233]</a></span>and wretched as its spiritual life had hitherto +been. It now begins the work of improvement, +collects its ideas, which had hitherto remained +fruitless, examines the notions of others, transforms +them, and adapts them to its peculiar circumstances; +in fact, erects, by its own power, a +social and political system, a civilization, however +humble. Where is there such a nation? The entire +records of all history may be searched in vain +for a single instance of a nation which, together +with Christianity, adopted European civilization, +or which—by the same grand change in its religious +ideas—was led to form a civilization of its +own, if it did not possess one already before.</p> + +<p>On the contrary, I will show, in every part of +the world, ethnical characteristics not in the least +effaced by the adoption of Christianity. The +Christian Mongol and Tartar tribes lead the +same erratic life as their unconverted brethren, +and are as distinct from the Russian of the same +religion, who tills the soil, or plies his trade in +their midst, as they were centuries ago. Nay, the +very hostilities of race survive the adoption of a +common religion, as we have already pointed out +in a preceding chapter. The Christian religion, +then, does not equalize the intellectual disparities +of races.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page234" id="page234">[Pg 234]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="I_NOTE" id="I_NOTE"></a>INTRODUCTORY NOTE<br /> +<small>TO<br /> +CHAPTERS VIII. AND IX.</small></h3> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>Rapid survey of the populations comprised under the appellation +"Teutonic"—Their present ethnological area, and leading +characteristics—Fondness for the sea displayed by the +Teutonic tribes of Northwestern Europe, and perceptible in +their descendants.</p></div> + + +<p>Several of the ideas expressed by the author in the +course of the two next following chapters, seemed to +the annotator of this volume to call for a few remarks +on his part, which could not conveniently be condensed +within the limited space of foot-notes. Besides, the +text is already sufficiently encumbered with them, and +any increase in their length or number could not but +be displeasing to the eye, while it would divert attention +from the main subject. He has, therefore, taken +the liberty—an unwarranted one, perhaps—of introducing +his remarks in this form and place.</p> + +<p class="tbreak">The leading proposition in this volume is, that the +civilization originated and developed by a race, is the +clearest index of its character—the mirror in which its +principal features are truthfully reflected. In other<span class="pagenum"><a name="page235" id="page235">[Pg 235]</a></span> +words, that every race, capable of developing a civilization, +will develop one peculiar to itself, and impossible +to every other. This the author illustrates by the +actual state of our civilization, which he asserts to be +originated by the Teutonic race, but modified in proportion +to the admixture of that race with a different +blood. To clearly comprehend his idea, and to appreciate +the value of his arguments, it is, therefore, necessary +for the reader to take a rapid survey of the populations +comprised under the appellation <em>Teutonic</em>, and +to examine into the present geographical extension of +that race. This I shall endeavor to do, not, indeed, by +entering into an elaborate ethnological disquisition—a +task greatly beyond my powers, and the due performance +of which would require a space much larger than +the whole of this volume—but by merely grouping together +well-known facts, in such a manner as to set the +author's idea in a clearer light.</p> + +<p>The words <em>Teutonic</em> and <em>Germanic</em> are generally +used synonymously, and we shall not depart from this +custom. Strict accuracy, however, would probably require +that the term Teutonic should be used as the +general appellation of all those swarms of northern +warriors, who, under various names, harassed and finally +subverted the overgrown dominion of ancient Rome, +while the term Germanic would apply to a portion of +them only. The Northern Barbarians, as the Romans +contemptuously styled them, all claimed to belong to +the "<em>Thiudu</em>," or the nation <i>par excellence</i>, and from +that word the term Teutonic is supposed to be derived. +Many of their descendants still retain the name: <em>Teutsch</em> +or <em>Deutsch</em> (German). The Romans called them <em>Germanes</em>, +from the boastful title of "the warlike," or "the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page236" id="page236">[Pg 236]</a></span> +men of war," which the first invading tribes had given +themselves. These <em>Germanes</em> of the Romans were +again divided into two classes, the Saxon tribes, and +the Suevic; terms expressive of their mode of life, the +former having fixed habitations and inclosed farms, the +latter cultivating the fields by turn, and being prone to +change their abodes. The first class comprised many +other tribes besides those who figure in history, under +the name of Saxons, as the invaders and conquerors of +Britain. But as I desire to avoid all not well-authorized +distinctions, I shall use the terms Teutonic and Germanic +indiscriminately.</p> + +<p>The Germans appear to have been at all times an +eminently warlike and courageous race. History first +speaks of them as warriors alarming, nay, terrifying, +the arrogant Romans, and that not in the infancy +of Rome's power, when the Samnites and Volscians +were formidable antagonists, but in the very fulness of +its strength, in the first vigor of youthful manhood, +when Italy, Spain, part of Gaul, the northern coasts +of Africa, Greece, Syria, and Asia Minor, were subdued +to the republican yoke. Then it was that the +Cimbri and Teutones invaded and harassed Italy, chilling +the mistress of the world with fear.</p> + +<p>The Germans next meet us in Cæsar's Commentaries. +The principal resistance which the future usurper experienced +in subduing Gaul, appears to have been +offered, not by the Gallic population, but either by +German tribes, settled in that country, or German +armies from the right banks of the Rhine, who longed +to dispute the tempting prize with the Romans. The +great general twice crossed the Rhine, but probably +more for the <em>éclat</em> of such an exploit, than with the hope<span class="pagenum"><a name="page237" id="page237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +of making permanent conquests. The temporary successes +gained by his imperial successors were amply +counterbalanced by the massacre of the flower of the +Roman armies.</p> + +<p>At the end of the first five centuries after Christ, +nothing was left of the great Roman empire but ruins. +Every country in Northern, Western, and Southern +Europe acknowledged German masters. The tribes of +the extreme north had entered Russia, and there +established a powerful republic; the tribes of the northwest +(the Angles and Saxons) had conquered Britain; +a confederation of the southern tribes, under the name +of Franks, had conquered Gaul; the various Gothic +tribes of the east, the Heruli, the Longobardi, Ostrogoths, +etc., had subjected Italy to their arms, and disputed +its possession among themselves. Other Gothic +tribes (the Visigoths, Burgundians, and Vandals) had +shared with the Franks the beautiful tracts of Gaul, +or had carried their victorious arms to Spain, and the +northern coasts of Africa. The three most beautiful and +most fertile countries of Europe, to this day, retain the +name of their conquerors—England, France, Lombardy.</p> + +<p>It is impossible now to determine with accuracy the +amount of German blood in the populations of the +various states founded by the Teutonic tribes. Yet +certain general results are easily arrived at in this interesting +investigation.</p> + +<p>Thus, we know that Germany, notwithstanding its +name, contains by no means a pure Germanic population. +The fierce Scythian hordes, whom Attila led on to +the work of devastation, after the death of their leader, +incorporated themselves with various of the Teutonic<span class="pagenum"><a name="page238" id="page238">[Pg 238]</a></span> +tribes. They form one of the ethnical elements of the +population of Italy, but especially of the south and +southeast of Germany. While, therefore, the population +of Northern Germany is comparatively pure +Teutonic, that of the southern and eastern portion is a +mixture of Teutonic and Sclavonian elements.</p> + +<p>The Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians, are probably +the most Germanic nations of continental Europe.</p> + +<p>In Spain, the Visigoths were, in a great measure, +absorbed by the native population, consisting of the +aboriginal Celtiberians and the numerous Roman colonists. +In the tenth century, an amalgamation began +with the eastern blood brought by the Arab conquerors.</p> + +<p>Italy, already at the time of the downfall of Rome, +contained an extremely mixed population, drawn thither +by the all-absorbing vortex of the Eternal City. In +the north, the Germanic element had time to engraft +itself in some measure; but the south, passing into the +hands of the Byzantine emperors, received an addition +of the already mixed Greek blood of the east.</p> + +<p>Gaul, at the time of the Frankish conquest, was an +extremely populous country. Beside the aboriginal +Gauls, the population consisted of numerous Roman +colonists. The Mediterranean coast of Gaul had, from +the earliest times, received Phenician, Carthaginian, +and Greek settlers, who founded there large and prosperous +cities. The original differences in the population +of Gaul are to this day perceptible. The Germanic +element preponderates in the north, where already, +in Cæsar's time, the Germans had succeeded in making +permanent settlements, and in the northeast, where +the Burgundians had well-nigh extirpated and completely +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page239" id="page239">[Pg 239]</a></span>supplanted the Gallic natives.<a name="FNanchor-90" id="FNanchor-90"></a><a href="#Footnote-90" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 90.">[90]</a> But everywhere +else,<a name="FNanchor-91" id="FNanchor-91"></a><a href="#Footnote-91" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 91.">[91]</a> the Germanic element forms but a small portion +of the population, and this is well illustrated by the +striking resemblance of the character of the modern +French to that of the ancient Gauls. But though +vastly inferior in numbers, the descendants of the German +conquerors, for one thousand years, were the dominant +race in France. Until the fifteenth century, all +the higher nobility were of Frankish or Burgundian +origin. But, after the Celtic and Celto-Roman provinces +south of the Loire had rallied around a youthful +king, to reconquer their capital and best territories from +the English foe, the Frankish blood ruled with less exclusive +sway in all the higher offices of the state; and +the distinction was almost entirely lost by the accession +of the first southern dynasty, that of the Bourbons, towards +the end of the sixteenth century. The corresponding +variations in the national policy and the +exterior manifestations of the national character, Mr. +Gobineau has rapidly pointed out elsewhere.<a name="FNanchor-92" id="FNanchor-92"></a><a href="#Footnote-92" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 92.">[92]</a></p> + +<p>While the population of France presents so great a +mixture of various different races, and but a slight infusion +of German blood, that of England, on the contrary, +is almost purely Teutonic. The original inhabitants +of the country were, for the most part, driven into +the mountain fastnesses of Wales by the German invaders, +where they preserve, to this day, their original<span class="pagenum"><a name="page240" id="page240">[Pg 240]</a></span> +language. Every subsequent great addition to the +population of England was by the German race. The +Danes, and, after them, the Normans, were tribes of the +same stock as the Saxons, and all came from very nearly +the same portion of Europe. It is obvious, therefore, +that England, even after the Norman conquest, when, +for a time, the upper and the lower classes spoke different +languages, contained a more homogeneous population +than France did at the same, or any subsequent +epoch. In England, from the Saxon yeoman up to the +proudest Norman lord, all belonged to the great German +race; in France, only the nobility, while the peasants +were Gauls. The wars between the two countries +afford a striking proof of the difference of these two +races. The battles of Cressy, of Poitiers, and of Agincourt, +which will never be forgotten so long as English +poetry can find an echo in an English breast, were won +by the English against greatly superior numbers. "Victories, +indeed, they were," says Macaulay, "of which +a nation may justly be proud; for they are to be attributed +to the moral superiority of the victors, <em>a superiority +which was most striking in the lowest ranks</em>. The +knights of England found worthy rivals in the knights +of France. Chandos encountered an equal foe in Du +Guesclin. But France had no infantry that dared to +face the English bows and bills." The Celt has probably, +at no time, been inferior to the Teuton in valor; +in martial enthusiasm, he exceeds him. But, at a time +when bodily strength decided the combat, the difference +between the sturdy Saxon and the small, slight—though +active—Gaul, must have been great.</p> + +<p>In this rapid and necessarily imperfect sketch, I have +endeavored to show the relative proportion of the Teutonic +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page241" id="page241">[Pg 241]</a></span>blood in the population of the various countries +of Europe. I have endeavored to direct the reader's +attention to the fact, that though it forms an element +in the population of all, it exists in perfect purity in +but few, and that England presents a happy fusion of +some of the most distinguished branches of the German +family. If we now glance at the United States, we shall +there find—at least in the first years of her national +existence—a pendant to what has been asserted of England. +The elements of the population of the original +thirteen States, were almost exclusively of English, +Lowland Scotch, Dutch, and Swedish blood; that is +to say, decidedly Germanic. Ireland was as yet slightly +represented. France had made but inconsiderable contributions +to the population. Since we have assumed +a rank among the great powers of the earth, every +portion of the inhabited globe has sent us its contingent +of blood, yet even now, the great body of the +nation belongs to the Teutonic race.</p> + +<p>Much has been said of the effects of ethnical mixture. +Many consider it as decidedly beneficial, others as +decidedly deleterious. It seems to me susceptible of +mathematical demonstration, that when a very inferior +race amalgamates with one of higher order, the compound—though +superior to the one, must be inferior to +the other. In that case, therefore, mixture is injurious. +But when various branches of the same race, or nearly +cognate races mix, as in the case of the Saxons, Angles, +Danes, and Normans, the mixture cannot but be beneficial. +For, while none of the higher qualities are lost, +the compound presents a felicitous combination of some +of the virtues peculiar to each.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page242" id="page242">[Pg 242]</a></span>If our civilization received its tone and character +from the Teutonic race, as Mr. Gobineau asserts, this +character must be most strikingly displayed wherever +that race forms the preponderating element of the +population.</p> + +<p>Before investigating this question, we must cast a +glance on the manners and modes of thinking that +characterized this race in the earliest times. Unfortunately, +but few records are left to assist us in forming +a judgment. Tacitus's celebrated treatise was, probably, +more an imaginary sketch, which he wished to hold +up to a people sunk in luxury and vice, as were his +countrymen. In our times, the North American Indian +has often been held up as a model of uncorrupted simplicity, +and many touching romances have been written +on the theme, now rather hackneyed and out of fashion. +But though the noble Roman may have highly colored +the picture, the incorruptible love of truth, which +shines so brilliantly in all his works, assures us of the +truth of its outlines.</p> + +<p>Of one thing we can entertain no doubt, viz: that +history nowhere shows us our Germanic forefathers in +the same state of barbarism that we find other races—many +of the American Indians, the South-Sea Islanders, +and others. In the earliest times they practised +agriculture, they cultivated rye, barley, oats and wheat. +Many of the tribes had regular farms, which were inclosed. +They knew how to work iron, an art which +even the most civilized of the American Indians had +never learned. They had extensive and complicated +political relations, often forming themselves in vast +confederacies. But, above all, they were an eminently<span class="pagenum"><a name="page243" id="page243">[Pg 243]</a></span> +chaste people; they respected woman,<a name="FNanchor-93" id="FNanchor-93"></a><a href="#Footnote-93" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 93.">[93]</a> and assigned to +her her legitimate place in the social circle. Marriage +with them was a sacred institution.</p> + +<p>The greatest point of superiority of our civilization, +over all preceding and contemporaneous ones—a point +which Mr. Gobineau has omitted to mention—is the +high rank which woman occupies in the modern structure +of society. The boasted civilizations of Greece +and Rome, if superior in others, are vastly inferior to +us in this respect. And this glorious superiority we +owe to the pure and chaste manners of our forefathers.</p> + +<p>Representative government, trial by jury, and all the +discoveries in political science upon which we pride ourselves +most, are the necessary development of their +simple institutions, to which, indeed, they can be distinctly +traced.</p> + +<p>I have purposely selected these two characteristics +of the German races—respect for woman, and love of +liberty, or, what is more, a capacity for establishing +and preserving liberal institutions. The question now +resolves itself into this: Does woman occupy the highest +rank, do liberal institutions best flourish where the +Germanic race is most pure? I will not answer the +question, but beg the reader to compare the more Germanic +countries with those that are less so—England, +Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Northern +Germany, with France, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Russia; +the United States and Canada, with Mexico and +the South American republics.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page244" id="page244">[Pg 244]</a></span>Mr. Gobineau speaks of the utilitarian character of the +Germanic races, but furnishes no proofs of his assertion. +I shall therefore endeavor to supply the deficiency.</p> + +<p>Those countries which ethnology tells us contain the +most Germanic populations, viz: England, the northern +States of Europe, including Holland, and the United +States, have the entire commerce, and nearly all the +manufacture of the whole world in their hands. They +have given to mankind all the great inventions which +shed an everlasting lustre over our era. They, together, +possess nine-tenths of all the railroads built in the world, +and the greater part of the remaining tenth was built by +<em>their</em> enterprise and capital. Whatever perfection in +the useful arts one of these countries attains, is readily +adopted by all; slowly only, and sometimes never by any +of the others.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, we find that the polite arts do +not meet, in these countries, with a very congenial soil. +Artists may flock thither, and, perhaps, reap a harvest +of gold; but they seldom stay. The admiration which +they receive is oftenest the mere dictate of fashion. It +is true that England, Denmark, Holland, Sweden, and +the United States, have produced some eminent artists, +but the mass of the population do not exhibit that innate +taste, that passionate fondness for the arts, which +we find among all classes in Italy, Spain, and to some +extent in France and Southern Germany.</p> + +<p class="tbreak">Before I conclude this hasty sketch, for which I crave +the reader's indulgence, I wish to draw attention to a +striking instance of the permanency of ethnical characteristics. +The nations that most fondly and most successfully +plough the briny main, are the English, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page245" id="page245">[Pg 245]</a></span> +Americans, the Swedes, Danes, Dutch. Notwithstanding +the littleness of these latter, they have successfully +competed in maritime discovery with larger nations; +and even now, own considerable and far distant colonial +possessions. The Dutch, for a time, were the greatest +maritime power in the world, and to this day carry on +an extensive and profitable commerce. History tells +us that the forefathers of these nations were distinguished +by the same nautical genius.</p> + +<p>The real Saxons—the invaders of England—are +mentioned already in the middle of the second century, +by Ptolemy, as skilful sailors. In the fourth and fifth +century, they became dreaded from their piracies. They +and their confederates, the Angles, originally inhabited +the present Holstein, and the islands in the vicinity of +the Baltic coast. Their neighbors, the Danes, were +equally famous for maritime exploits. Their celebrated +vykings still live in song and tale. Their piratical incursions +and settlements in England, are known to +every schoolboy. How familiar the Normans were with +the watery element, is abundantly proved by history. +They ascended the Rhine, and other rivers, for hundreds +of miles, marking their landing-place by devastation.</p> + +<p>Of the Angle, the Saxon, the Dane, and the Norman, +the present Englishman and his adventurous brother of +Massachusetts, are lineal descendants. The best sailors +in our commercial navy, next to the native sailors, are +the Danes and the Swedes. Normandy, to this day, +furnishes the best for the French service.—H.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page246" id="page246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + +<p class="center">CIVILIZATION.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>Mr. Guizot's and Mr. W. von Humboldt's definitions examined. +Its elements.</p></div> + + +<p>The reader will here pardon me an indispensable +digression. I make use at almost every +moment of a term comprising in its extensive signification +a collection of ideas which it is important +to define accurately: <em>civilization</em>. The greater +or less degree in which this term is applicable to +the social condition of various nations, is my only +standard for the comparative merit of races. I +also speak of a <em>European</em> civilization, in contradistinction +to others of a different character. It +is the more necessary to avoid the least vagueness, +as I am under the disagreeable necessity of differing +from a celebrated writer, who has assumed the +special task of determining the meaning and comprehensiveness +of this expression.</p> + +<p>Mr. Guizot, in his <cite>History of Civilization in Modern +Europe</cite>,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page247" id="page247">[Pg 247]</a></span> makes use of a term which seems to +me to give rise to a serious confusion of ideas, and +lead to positive errors. He says that civilization +is a <em>fact</em>.</p> + +<p>Now, either the word fact must here be understood +in a sense much less strict and precise than +common usage requires, a sense so indistinct—I +might almost say elastic—as has never pertained to +it, or what we comprehend under the term civilization +cannot be expressed by the word fact. Civilization +is not <em>a fact</em>; it is a <em>series</em>, a <em>concatenation +of facts</em>, more or less logically united, and resulting +from ideas often sufficiently diverse: ideas and +facts continually reproduce each other. Civilization +is a term applied to a certain state or condition +in which a society exists—a condition which +is of its own creation, bears its character, and, in +turn, reacts upon it. This condition is of so variable +a nature, that it cannot be called a fact; for a +fact cannot be variable without ceasing to be a +fact. In other words, there is more than one civilization: +there are various kinds. Thus, a civilization +may flourish under every form of government, +and it does not cease to exist when civil commotions +destroy or alter that form.</p> + +<p>Let it not be understood that I esteem governmental +forms of little importance. Their choice<span class="pagenum"><a name="page248" id="page248">[Pg 248]</a></span> +is intimately connected with the prosperity of the +society: if judicious, promoting and developing it; +if unpractical, endangering its destruction. But +I speak not here of the temporary prosperity or +misery of a society. I speak of its civilization; +and this is a phenomenon whose causes must be +sought elsewhere, and deeper than in transient +political forms. Its character, its growth, fecundity, +or barrenness, depends upon elementary principles +of far greater importance.</p> + +<p>But, in Mr. Guizot's opinion, civilization is a +fact, a unity; and it is of an essentially political +character. Let us see how he defines it. He +has chosen a series of hypotheses, describing society +in various conditions, and then asks if the +state so described is, in the general opinion of +mankind, the state of a people advancing in civilization—if +it answers to the signification which +mankind generally attaches to this word.<a name="FNanchor-94" id="FNanchor-94"></a><a href="#Footnote-94" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 94.">[94]</a></p> + +<p>"First imagine a people whose outward circumstances +are easy and agreeable; few taxes; few +hardships; justice is fairly administered; in a +word, physical existence, taken altogether, is satisfactorily +and happily regulated. But, with all +this, the moral and intellectual energies of this<span class="pagenum"><a name="page249" id="page249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +people are studiously kept in a state of torpor and +inertness. It can hardly be called oppression; its +tendency is not of that character—it is rather compression. +We are not without examples of this +state of society. There have been a great number +of little aristocratic republics, in which the people +have been thus treated like a flock of sheep, carefully +tended, physically happy, but without the +least intellectual and moral activity. Is this civilization? +Do we recognize here a people in a state +of moral and social advancement?"</p> + +<p>I know not whether such a people is in a state +of advancement, but it certainly may be in a very +advanced state of civilization, else we should find +ourselves compelled to class among the savages +or barbarians all those aristocratic republics of +ancient and modern times, which answer Mr. +Guizot's description. But the common sense of +mankind would never ratify a method which +ejected from within the pale of civilization not only +the Phenicians, Carthaginians, and Lacedæmonians, +but even Venice, Genoa, Pisa, the free cities +of Germany—in fact, all the powerful municipalities +of the last centuries. But, besides this mode +of proceeding being too paradoxical and restrictive, +it seems to me to encounter another difficulty. +Those little aristocratic states, to whom, on account<span class="pagenum"><a name="page250" id="page250">[Pg 250]</a></span> +of their form of government, Mr. Guizot denies the +aptitude for civilization, have, for the most part, +never been in possession of a special culture peculiar +to themselves. Powerful as many of them +have been, they assimilated, in this respect, with +nations differently governed, but of consanguineous +affinity; they formed a fragment only of a greater +and more general civilization. Thus, the Carthaginians +and Phenicians, though at a great distance +from one another, had a similar mode of culture, +the type of which must be sought in Assyria. The +Italian republics participated in the same ideas and +opinions which developed themselves in the bosom +of neighboring monarchies. The imperial cities +of Thuringia and Suabia, although perfectly independent +in a political point of view, were nevertheless +intimately united with the general progressive +or retrogressive movement of the whole German +race. Mr. Guizot, therefore, by assigning to the +people of different countries degrees of merit proportionate +to the degree and form of their liberty, +creates unjustifiable subdivisions in the same race, +and makes distinctions without a difference. A +lengthy discussion is not in its place here, and I +shall therefore proceed rapidly. If, however, it +were necessary to enter into a controversy, might +we not justly protest against recognizing any inferiority +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page251" id="page251">[Pg 251]</a></span>in the case of Genoa, Pisa, Venice, and +others, when compared with countries like Milan, +Naples, or Rome?</p> + +<p>Mr. Guizot has himself foreseen this difficulty, +and removed the objection. If he does not recognize +a state of civilization among a people "mildly +governed, but in a state of compression," neither +does he accord this prerogative to another, "whose +outward circumstances are less favorable and agreeable, +although supportable, but whose intellectual +and moral cravings have not been entirely neglected; +among whom pure and elevated sentiments +have been cultivated, and religious and moral +notions reached a certain degree of improvement, +but among whom the desire of liberty has been +stifled; where a certain portion of truth is doled +out to each, but no one permitted to seek for it +himself. This is the condition to which most of +the populations of Asia are sunk, because theocratical +governments there restrain the progress of +mankind; such, for instance, is the state of the +Hindoos."</p> + +<p>Thus, besides the aristocratic nations of the +earth, we must moreover exclude from the pale +of civilization the Hindoos, Egyptians, Etruscans, +Peruvians, Thibetans, Japanese—nay, even modern +Rome and her territories.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page252" id="page252">[Pg 252]</a></span>I omit the last two hypotheses, because, thanks +to the first two, the state of civilization is already +restricted within boundaries so contracted that +scarce any people on the globe is justified in +pretending to it. A nation, then, can be called +civilized only when it enjoys institutions happily +blending popular liberty and the requisite +strength of authority for maintaining order; when +its progress in material well-being and its moral +development are co-ordinate in a certain manner, +and no other; where religion, as well as government, +is confined within limits accurately defined, +which neither ever transgresses; where each individual +possesses clearly determinate and inalienable +rights. According to this formula, no nation +can be civilized unless its political institutions are +of the constitutional and representative form, and +consequently it is impossible to save many European +nations from the reproach of barbarism. +Then, measuring the <em>degree</em> of civilization by the +perfection of this same and only political form, we +are compelled to place in a second rank all those +constitutional states which have ill employed the +engine of parliament, to reserve the crown exclusively +for those who know how to make good use +of it. By this reasoning, I am forced to consider<span class="pagenum"><a name="page253" id="page253">[Pg 253]</a></span> +as truly civilized, in the past as well as the present, +none but the single English nation.<a name="FNanchor-95" id="FNanchor-95"></a><a href="#Footnote-95" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 95.">[95]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page254" id="page254">[Pg 254]</a></span>I sincerely respect and admire that great people, +whose victories, industry, and universal commerce +<span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden"><a name="page255" id="page255">[Pg 255]</a></span>have left no portion of our globe ignorant +of its puissance and the prodigies it has<span class="pagenum"><a name="page256" id="page256">[Pg 256]</a></span> +performed. But still, I do not feel disposed to +respect and admire in the world no other: it +would seem to me too humiliating and cruel to +humanity to confess that, since the beginning of +time, it has never succeeded in producing a civilization +anywhere but upon a small island of the +Western Ocean, has never discovered the laws +and forms which produce this state until the reign<span class="pagenum"><a name="page257" id="page257">[Pg 257]</a></span> +of William and Mary. Such a conception of civilization +might seem to many rather a little too +narrow and restrictive. But there is another objection. +If we attach the idea of civilization to a +political form, reason, observation, and science will +soon lose their vote in the decision of the question, +which must thenceforth be left to the passions and +prejudices of parties. There will be some whose +preferences will lead them stoutly to deny that the +institutions of the British Isles are the "perfection +of human reason:" their enthusiasm, perchance, +will be expended in praising the order established +in St. Petersburg or in Vienna. Many, again, and +perhaps the greater number of all living between +the Rhine and the Pyrenees, will sustain to the last +that, notwithstanding a few blemishes, the most +polished, the most civilized country of the world +is <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">la belle France</em>. The moment that the decision +of the degree of intellectual culture becomes a +matter of preference, a question of sentiment, to +come to an understanding is impossible. Each +one will think him the man most advanced in +civilization who shall coincide with his views +about the respective duties of the governing and +the governed; while those who are unfortunate +enough to differ, will be set down as men behind +the age, little better than barbarians, mere "old<span class="pagenum"><a name="page258" id="page258">[Pg 258]</a></span> +fogies," whose visual organs are too weak for the +dazzling lights of the epoch; or else as daring, +incendiary innovators, who wish to destroy all +established order, and sap the very foundation of +civilization. I think few will differ from me in +considering Mr. Guizot's definition as defective, +and the source from which he derives civilization +as not the real one.</p> + +<p>Let us now examine Baron W. Von Humboldt's +definition. "Civilization," says that celebrated +statesman, "is the humanization of nations in their +outward institutions, in their manners, and in the +inward feelings upon which these depend."<a name="FNanchor-96" id="FNanchor-96"></a><a href="#Footnote-96" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 96.">[96]</a></p> + +<p>Here we meet with a defect of the very opposite +kind to that which I took the liberty to point out +in Mr. Guizot's definition. The formula is too +vague, the boundary lines too indistinct. If civilization +consists in a softening of manners, more +than one untutored tribe, some extremely low in +the scale of races, might take precedence over +several European nations whose character contains +more acerbity. There are in the South Sea<span class="pagenum"><a name="page259" id="page259">[Pg 259]</a></span> +Islands, and elsewhere, very inoffensive populations, +of exceedingly gentle manners, and kind, +accommodating dispositions; yet, though we may +praise them, no one would think of placing them, +in the scale of civilization, above the rough Norwegians, +or even above the ferocious Malays, who, +dressed in brilliant garments of their own fabric, +and upon skilfully constructed vessels of their +own making, traverse the Indian seas, at the same +time the terror and scourge of maritime commerce, +and its most successful votaries. This observation +could not escape so great a mind as William Von +Humboldt's; and he therefore imagines, besides +civilization, a higher degree of development, which +he calls <em>culture</em>, and by which he declares that nations +gain, above their gentle manners, "<em>science and +the arts</em>."<a name="FNanchor-97" id="FNanchor-97"></a><a href="#Footnote-97" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 97.">[97]</a> When the world shall have arrived at +this higher state, it will be peopled by <em>affectionate</em> +and <em>sympathetic</em> beings, very erudite, poetic, and +artistic, but, by reason of this same reunion of +qualities, ignoring the grosser wants of existence: +strangers to the necessity of war, as well as those +of rude mechanical toil.</p> + +<p>When we reflect upon the limited leisure that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page260" id="page260">[Pg 260]</a></span> +the mass of even those can enjoy whose lot is cast +in the happiest epoch, to abandon themselves to +purely intellectual occupations—when we consider +how incessant and arduous must ever be the strife +of man with nature and the elements to insure the +mere means of subsistence, it will soon be perceived +that the philosopher of Berlin aimed less +at depicting realities than at drawing from the +domain of abstraction certain entities which appeared +to him beautiful and sublime, and which +are so, indeed, and at causing them to act and +move in a sphere as ideal as themselves. If any +doubts should still remain in this respect, they are +soon dispelled when we arrive at the culminating +point of the system, consisting of a third and last +degree superior to the two others. This greatest +point of perfection is that upon which stands the +<em>finished</em> man (<em lang="de" xml:lang="de">der Gebildete</em>); that is to say, the +man who, in his nature, possesses "something +higher and more inward or essential; a clear and +comprehensive faculty of seeing all things in their +true light; a recognition and appreciation of the +ultimate goal of man's moral and intellectual aspirations, +which diffuses itself harmoniously over all +his feelings and his character."<a name="FNanchor-98" id="FNanchor-98"></a><a href="#Footnote-98" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 98.">[98]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page261" id="page261">[Pg 261]</a></span>We here have a regular gradation from man in +a civilized or "humanized" state, to the man of cultivation—the +philosopher, the poet, the artist; and +thence still higher to the <em>finished</em>, the <em>perfect</em> man, +who has attained the greatest elevation possible +to our species; a man who, if I seize rightly Mr. +Humboldt's idea, had his living counterpart in +Gœthe, as that towering mind is described to us +in its olympic serenity. This theory rests upon +no other basis than Mr. Von Humboldt's perception +of the immense difference between the civilization<span class="pagenum"><a name="page262" id="page262">[Pg 262]</a></span> +of a nation and the comparative height of perfection +attained by great, isolated individualities. This +difference is so great that civilizations different +from ours, and perhaps inferior to it, have produced +men in some respects superior to those we +admire most.</p> + +<p>Upon this point I fully coincide with the great +philosopher whose theory I am unfolding. It is +perfectly correct, that our state of development—what +we call the European civilization—produces +neither the profoundest nor the sublimest thinkers, +nor the greatest poets, nor the most skilful artists. +Yet I venture to differ from the illustrious philologist +in believing that to give a practical meaning +to the word civilization, it is necessary to divest +one's self, if but for a moment, from the prejudices +or prepossessions resulting from the examination +of mere details in any particular civilization. We +must take the aggregate result of the whole, and +not make the requisites too few, as in the case of +the man of the first degree, whom I persist in not +acknowledging as civilized merely because his +manners are gentle; nor too many, as in the case +of the sage of the third, for then the development +of human faculties would be limited to a few +individuals, and would produce results purely +isolated and typical.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page263" id="page263">[Pg 263]</a></span>The Baron Von Humboldt's system, however, +does honor to that exquisite and generous sensibility, +that grand sublimity which was the dominant +characteristic of this great mind; and in its +purely abstract nature may be compared to the +fragile worlds of Brahmin philosophy. Born from +the brain of a slumbering god, they rise in the air +like the irised bubbles that the child blows from +the suds, bursting and succeeding one another as +the dreams that amuse the celestial sleeper.</p> + +<p>But the character of my researches permits me +not to indulge in mere abstractions, however brilliant +and attractive; I must arrive at results tangible +to practical sense and common experience. +I do not wish, like Mr. Guizot, to investigate the +conditions more or less favorable to the prosperity +of societies, nor, like Mr. William Von Humboldt, +to speculate upon the isolated elevation of individual +intelligences; my purpose is to encompass, +if possible, the aggregate power, moral as well as +material, which is developed in great masses of +men. It is not without trepidation that I engage +in a path in which two of the most admired men +of our century have lost themselves; and to avoid +the errors into which they have fallen, I shall +descend to first principles, and define civilization +by first investigating from what causes it results.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page264" id="page264">[Pg 264]</a></span> +If the reader, then, will follow me patiently and +attentively through the mazes into which I am +forced to enter, I shall endeavor to throw as much +light as I am capable of, upon this inherently obscure +and abstruse subject.</p> + +<p>There is no human being so degraded, so +brutish, in whom a twofold instinct, if I may be +permitted so to call it, is not manifest; the instinct +which incites to the gratification of material wants, +and that which leads to higher aspirations. The +degree of intensity of either of these two is the +first and principal measure of the differences +among races. In none, not even in the lowest +tribes, are the two instincts precisely balanced. +Among some, the physical wants or animal propensities +preponderate; in others, these are subordinate +to the speculative tendencies—the cravings +for the abstract, the supernatural. Thus, the +lowest of the yellow races seem to me to be +dominated rather by the first, the physical instinct, +without, however, being absolutely deprived +of all capacity for abstractions. On the +contrary, among the majority of the black races +of corresponding rank, the habits are less active +than pensive; imagination there attaches greater +value to the things of the invisible than to those +of the visible world. I do not thence deduce any<span class="pagenum"><a name="page265" id="page265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +conclusion of superior capacity for civilization on +the part of those latter races over the former, for +history demonstrates that both are equally insusceptible +to attain it. Centuries, thousands of +years, have passed by without either of them +doing aught to ameliorate their condition, because +they have never been able to associate a sufficient +number of ideas with the same number of facts, +to begin the march of progress. I wish merely to +draw attention to the fact, that even among the +lowest races we find this double current differently +constituted. I shall now follow the ascending +scale.</p> + +<p>Above the Samoyedes on the one hand, and +the Fidas and Pelagian negroes on the other, we +must place those tribes who are not content with +a mere hut of branches, and a social condition +based upon force only, but who are capable of +comprehending and aspiring to a better condition. +These are one degree above the most barbarous.</p> + +<p>If they belong to the first category of races—those +who act more than they think, among whom +the material tendency predominates over that for +the abstract—their development will display itself +in a greater perfection of their instruments of +labor, and of war, in a greater care and skill in +their ornaments, etc. In government, the warriors<span class="pagenum"><a name="page266" id="page266">[Pg 266]</a></span> +will take precedence over the priests; in their +intercourse with others, they will show a certain +aptitude and readiness for trafficking. Their wars, +though still characterized by cruelty, will originate +rather in a love of gain, than in the mere gratification +of vindictive passions. In one word, material +well-being, physical enjoyments, will be the +main pursuit of each individual. I find this picture +realized among several of the Mongol races, +and also, to some extent, among the Quichuas and +Azmaras of Peru.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, if they belong to the second +category—to those who have a predominating tendency +for the speculative, the abstract—less care will +be bestowed upon the material interests; the influence +of the priests will preponderate in the government; +in fact, we perceive a complete antithesis to +the condition above described. The Dahomees, +of Western Africa, and the Caffres of the south, +are examples of this state.</p> + +<p>Leaving those races whose progressive tendency +is not sufficiently vigorous to enable them to extend +their influence over great multitudes,<a name="FNanchor-99" id="FNanchor-99"></a><a href="#Footnote-99" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 99.">[99]</a> we +come to those of a higher order, in whom this +tendency is so vigorous that they are capable of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page267" id="page267">[Pg 267]</a></span> +incorporating, and bringing within their sphere +of action, all those they come in contact with. +They soon ingraft their own social and political +system upon immense multitudes, and impose +upon vast countries the dominion of that combination +of facts and ideas—more or less co-ordinate—which +we call a <em>civilization</em>. Among these +races, again, we find the same difference, the same +division, that I already pointed out in those of inferior +merit—in some the speculative, in others +the more materially active tendency predominates. +It is, indeed, among these races only, that this +difference has important consequences, and is +clearly perceptible. When a tribe, by incorporating +with it great multitudes, has become a people, +has founded a vast dominion, we find that these +two currents or tendencies have augmented in +strength, according to the character of the populations +which enter into the combination, and there +become blended. Whatever tendency prevails +among these populations, they will proportionably +modify the character of the whole. It will be remarked, +moreover, that at different periods of the +life of a people, and in strict accordance with the +mixture of blood and the fusion of different elements, +the oscillation between the two tendencies +becomes more violent, and it may happen that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page268" id="page268">[Pg 268]</a></span> +their relative proportion changes altogether; that +one, at first subordinate, in time becomes predominant. +The results of this mobility are important, +as they influence, in a sensible manner, the +character of a civilization, and its stability.<a name="FNanchor-100" id="FNanchor-100"></a><a href="#Footnote-100" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 100.">[100]</a></p> + +<p>For the sake of simplicity, I shall distinguish +the two categories of races by designations expressive +of the tendency which predominates in +them, and shall call them accordingly, either <em>speculative</em> +or <em>utilitarian</em>.<a name="FNanchor-101" id="FNanchor-101"></a><a href="#Footnote-101" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 101.">[101]</a> As I have before observed, +these terms imply neither praise nor blame. I use +them merely for convenience, to designate the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page269" id="page269">[Pg 269]</a></span> +leading characteristic, without thereby expressing +a total absence of the other. Thus, the most +utilitarian of the speculative races would closely +approximate to the most speculative of the utilitarian. +At the head of the utilitarian category, as +its type, I place the Chinese; at the head, and as +the type of the other, the Hindoos. Next to the +Chinese I would put the majority of the populations +of ancient Italy, the first Romans of the time +of the republic, and the Germanic tribes. On the +opposite side, among the speculative races, I would +range next to the Hindoos, the Egyptians, and the +nations of the Assyrian empire.</p> + +<p>I have said already that the oscillations of the +two principles or tendencies sometimes result in +the preponderance of one, which before was subordinate, +and thus the character of the civilization +is changed. Minor modifications, the history of +almost every people presents. Thus, even the materialistic +utilitarian tendency of the Chinese has been +somewhat modified by their amalgamation with +tribes of another blood, and a different tendency. +In the south, the Yunnan particularly, where this +population prevailed, the inhabitants are much less +exclusively utilitarian than in the north, where +the Chinese element is more pure. If this admixture +of blood operated so slight a change in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page270" id="page270">[Pg 270]</a></span> +genius of that immense nation, that its effects have +ceased, or make themselves perceptible only in an +exceedingly slow manner, it is because its quantity +was so extremely small, compared to the utilitarian +population by which it was absorbed.</p> + +<p>Into the actual populations of Europe, the Germanic +tribes infused a strong utilitarian tendency, +and in the north, this has been continually recruited +by new accessions of the same ethnical element; +but in the south (with some exceptions, Piedmont, +and the North of Spain, for example), the Germanic +element forms not so great a portion of the +whole mass, and the utilitarian tendency has there +been overweighed by the opposite genius of the +native populations.</p> + +<p>Among the speculative races we have signalized +the Hindoos. They are endowed in a high degree +with the tendency for the supernatural, the abstract. +Their character is more meditative than active and +practical. As their ancient conquests incorporated +with them races of a similar disposition, the utilitarian +element has never prevailed sufficiently to +produce decided results. While, therefore, their +civilization has arrived at a high degree of perfection +in other respects, it has lagged far behind in +all that promotes material comfort, in all that is +strictly useful and practical.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page271" id="page271">[Pg 271]</a></span>Rome, at first strictly utilitarian, changed its +character gradually as the fusion with Greek, +Asiatic, and African elements proceeded, and when +once the ancient utilitarian population was absorbed +in this ethnical inundation, the practical +character of Rome was lost.</p> + +<p class="tbreak">From the consideration of these and similar +facts, I arrive at the conclusion, that all intellectual +or moral activity results from the combined action +and mutual reaction of these two tendencies, and +that the social system can arrive at that development +which entitles it to the name of civilization, +only in races which possess, in a high degree, +either of the two, without being too much deficient +in the other.</p> + +<p>I now proceed to the examination of other +points also deserving of notice.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page272" id="page272">[Pg 272]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h3> + +<p class="center">ELEMENTS OF CIVILIZATION—CONTINUED.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>Definition of the term—Specific differences of civilizations—Hindoo, +Chinese, European, Greek, and Roman civilizations—Universality +of Chinese civilization—Superficiality of ours—Picture +of the social condition of France.</p></div> + + +<p>When a tribe, impelled by more vigorous instincts +than its neighbors, succeeds in collecting +the hitherto scattered and isolated fragments into +a compact whole, the first impetus of progress is +thus given, the corner-stone of a civilization laid. +But, to produce great and lasting results, a mere +political preponderance is not sufficient. The +dominant race must know how to lay hold of the +feelings of the masses it has aggregated, to assimilate +their individual interests, and to concentrate +their energies to the same purposes. When the +different elements composing the nation are thus +blended into a more or less homogeneous mass, +certain principles and modes of thinking become<span class="pagenum"><a name="page273" id="page273">[Pg 273]</a></span> +general, and form the standard around which all +rally. These principles and modes of thinking, +however, cannot be arbitrarily imposed, and must +be resulting from, and in the main consonant with, +pre-existing sentiments and desires.<a name="FNanchor-102" id="FNanchor-102"></a><a href="#Footnote-102" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 102.">[102]</a> They will +be characterized by a utilitarian or a speculative +tendency, according to the degree in which either +instinct predominates in the constituent elements +of the nation.</p> + +<p>This harmony of views and interests is the first +essential to civilization; the second is stability, +and is a natural consequence of the first. The +general principles upon which the political and +social system rests, being based upon instincts +common to all, are by all regarded with the most +affectionate veneration, and firmly believed to be +perpetual. The purer a race remains, the more +conservative will it be in its institutions, for its +instincts never change. But the admixture of +foreign blood produces proportionate modifications +in the national ideas. The new-comers +introduce instincts and notions which were +not calculated upon in the social edifice. Alterations +therefore become necessary, and these are +often wholesome, especially in the youthful period<span class="pagenum"><a name="page274" id="page274">[Pg 274]</a></span> +of the society, when the new ethnical elements +have not as yet acquired an undue preponderance. +But, as the empire increases, and comprises elements +more and more heterogeneous, the changes +become more radical, and are not always for the +better. Finally, as the initiatory and conservative +element disappears, the different parts of the nation +are no longer united by common instincts +and interests; the original institutions are not +adapted to their wants; sudden and total transformations +become common, and a vain phantom of +stability is pursued through endless experiments. +But, while thus vacillating betwixt conflicting interests, +and changing its purpose every hour, the +nation imagines itself advancing to some imaginary +goal of perfection. Firmly convinced of its own +perpetuity, it holds fast to the doctrine which its +daily acts disprove, that one of the principal features +of a civilization is God-like immutability. +And though each day brings forth new discontents +and new changes equally futile, the apprehensions +of the day are quieted with the expectations of +to-morrow.</p> + +<p>I have said that the conditions necessary for the +development of a civilization are—the aggregation +of large masses, and stable institutions resulting +from common views and interests. The sociable<span class="pagenum"><a name="page275" id="page275">[Pg 275]</a></span> +inclinations of man, and the less noble attributes +of his nature, perform the rest. While the former +bring him in intimate and varied connections with +his fellow-men, the latter give rise to continual +contests and emulation. In a large community, a +strong fist is no longer sufficient to insure protection +and give distinction, and the resources of the +mind are applied and developed. Intellect continually +seeks and finds new fields for exertion, +either in the regions of the abstract, or in the +material world. By its productions in either, we +recognize an advanced state of society. The most +common source of error in judging foreign nations, +is that we are apt to look merely at the exterior +demonstrations of their civilization, and because, +in this respect, their civilization does not resemble +ours, we hastily conclude that they are barbarous, +or, at least, greatly inferior to us. A conclusion, +drawn from such premises, must needs be very +superficial, and therefore ought to be received with +caution.</p> + +<p>I believe myself now prepared to express my +idea of a civilization, by defining it as</p> + +<p><em>A state of comparative stability, in which a large +collection of individuals strive, by peaceful means, to +satisfy their wants, and refine their intelligence and +manners.</em></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page276" id="page276">[Pg 276]</a></span>This definition includes, without exception, all +the nations which I have mentioned as being civilized. +But, as these nations have few points of resemblance, +the question suggests itself: Do not, then, +all civilizations tend to the same results? I think +not; for, as the nations called to the noble task of +accomplishing a civilization, are endowed with the +utilitarian and speculative tendencies in various +degrees and proportions, their paths must necessarily +lie in very divergent directions.</p> + +<p>What are the material wants of the Hindoo? +Rice and butter for his nourishment, and a piece +of cotton cloth for his garment. Nor can this +abstemiousness be accounted for by climate, for +the native of Thibet, under a much more rigorous +sky, displays the same quality. In these peoples, +the imaginative faculty greatly predominates, their +intellectual efforts are directed to abstractions, and +the fruits of their civilization are therefore seldom +of a practical or utilitarian character. Magnificent +temples are hewn out of mountains of solid rock +at an expense of labor and time that terrifies the +imagination; gigantic constructions are erected;—all +this in honor of the gods, while nothing is +done for man's benefit, unless it be tombs. By +the side of the miracles wrought by the sculptor's +chisel, we admire the finished masterpieces of a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page277" id="page277">[Pg 277]</a></span> +literature full of vigor, and as ingenious and subtle +in theology and metaphysics, as beautiful in its +variety: in speculative efforts, human thought descends +without trepidation to immeasurable depths; +its lyric poetry challenges the admiration of all +mankind.</p> + +<p>But if we leave the domain of idealistic reveries, +and seek for inventions of practical utility, and +for the sciences that are their theoretical basis, we +find a deplorable deficiency. From a dazzling +height, we suddenly find ourselves descended to a +profound and darksome abyss. Useful inventions +are scarce, of a petty character, and, being neglected, +remain barren of results. While the Chinese observed +and invented a great deal, the Hindoos invented +but little, and of that little took no care; +the Greeks, also, have left us much information, +but little worthy of their genius; and the Romans, +once arrived at the culminating point of their +history, could no longer make any real progress, +for the Asiatic admixture in which they were absorbed +with surprising rapidity, produced a population +incapable of the patient and toilsome investigation +of stern realities. Their administrative +genius, however, their legislation, and the useful +monuments with which they provided the soil of +their territories, attest sufficiently the practical<span class="pagenum"><a name="page278" id="page278">[Pg 278]</a></span> +character which, at one time, so eminently characterized +that people; and prove that if the +South of Europe had not been so rapidly submerged +with colonists from Asia and the North of +Africa, positive science would have been the +gainer, and less would have been left to be accomplished +by the Germanic races, which afterward +gave it a renewed impulse.</p> + +<p>The Germanic conquerors of the fifth century +were characterized by instincts of a similar kind +to those of the Chinese, but of a higher order. +While they possessed the utilitarian tendency as +strongly, if not stronger, they had, at the same +time, a much greater endowment of the speculative. +Their disposition presented a happy blending +of these two mainsprings of activity. Where-ever +the Teutonic blood predominates, the utilitarian +tendency, ennobled and refined by the +speculative, is unmistakable. In England, North +America, and Holland, this tendency governs and +preponderates over all the other national instincts. +It is so, in a lesser degree, in Belgium, and even +in the North of France, where everything susceptible +of practical application is understood with +marvellous facility. But as we advance further +south, this predisposition is less apparent, and, +finally, disappears altogether. We cannot attribute +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page279" id="page279">[Pg 279]</a></span>this to the action of the sun, for the +Piedmontese live in a much warmer climate than +the Provençals and the inhabitants of the Languedoc; +it is the effect of blood.</p> + +<p>The series of speculative races, or those rendered +so by admixture, occupies the greater portion +of the globe, and this observation is particularly +applicable to Europe. With the exception of the +Teutonic family, and a portion of the Sclavonic, +all other groups of our part of the world are but +slightly endowed with the faculty for the useful +and practical; or, having already acted their part +in the world's history, will not be able to recommence +it. All these races, from the Gaul to the +Celtiberian, and thence to the variegated compounds +of the Italian populations, present a descending +scale from a utilitarian point of view. +Not that they are devoid of all the aptitudes of +that tendency, but they are wanting in some of +the most essential.</p> + +<p>The union of the Germanic tribes with the +races of the ancient world, this engrafting of a +vigorous utilitarian principle upon the ideas of +that variegated compound, produced our civilization; +the richness, diversity, and fecundity of our +state of culture is the natural result of that combination +of so many different elements, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="page280" id="page280">[Pg 280]</a></span> +each contributed their part, and which the practical +vigor of our Germanic ancestors, succeeded in +blending into a more or less harmonious whole.</p> + +<p>Wherever our state of civilization extends, it is +characterized by two traits; the first, that the +population contains a greater or less admixture of +Teutonic blood; the other, that it is Christian. +This last feature, however, as I said before, though +the most obvious and striking, is by no means +essential, because many nations are Christian, and +many more may become so, without participating +in our civilization. But the first feature is positive, +decisive. Wherever the Germanic element +has not penetrated, our civilization cannot flourish.<a name="FNanchor-103" id="FNanchor-103"></a><a href="#Footnote-103" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 103.">[103]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page281" id="page281">[Pg 281]</a></span>This leads me to the investigation of a serious +and important question: "Can it be asserted that +all the European nations are really and thoroughly +civilized?" Do the ideas and facts which rise +upon the surface of our civilization, strike root +in the basis of our social and political structure, +and derive their vitality from that source? Are +the results of these ideas and facts such as are +conformable to the instincts, the tendencies, of the +masses? Or, in other words, have the lowest strata +of our populations the same direction of thought +and action as the highest—that direction which we<span class="pagenum"><a name="page282" id="page282">[Pg 282]</a></span> +may call the spirit or genius of our progressive +movement?</p> + +<p>To arrive at a true and unbiassed solution of +this question, let us examine other civilizations, +different from ours, and then institute a comparison.</p> + +<p>The similarity of views and ideas, the unity of +purpose, which characterized the whole body of +citizens in the Grecian states, during the brilliant +period of their history, has been justly admired. +Upon every essential point, the opinions of every +individual, though often conflicting, were, nevertheless, +derived from the same source, emanated +from the same general views and sentiments; individuals +might differ in politics, one wishing a more +oligarchical, another a more democratic government; +or they might differ in religion, one worshipping, +by preference, the Eleusinian Ceres, another +the Minerva of the Parthenon; or in matters of +taste, one might prefer Æschylus to Sophocles, +Alceus to Pindar. At the bottom, the disputants +all participated in the same views and ideas, ideas +which might well be called national. The question +was one of degree, not of kind.<a name="FNanchor-104" id="FNanchor-104"></a><a href="#Footnote-104" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 104.">[104]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page283" id="page283">[Pg 283]</a></span>Rome, previous to the Punic wars, presented +the same spectacle; the civilization of the country +was uniform, and embraced all, from the master to +the slave.<a name="FNanchor-105" id="FNanchor-105"></a><a href="#Footnote-105" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 105.">[105]</a> All might not participate in it to the +same extent, but all participated in it and in no +other.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page284" id="page284">[Pg 284]</a></span>But in Rome, after the Punic wars, and in Greece, +soon after Pericles, and especially after Philip of +Macedon, this character of homogeneity began to +disappear. The greater mixture of nations produced +a corresponding mixture of civilizations, +and the compound thus formed exceeded in variety, +elegance, refinement, and learning, the ancient +mode of culture. But it had this capital inconvenience, +both in Hellas and in Italy, that it belonged +exclusively to the higher classes. Its nature, its +merits, its tendencies, were ignored by the sub-strata +of the population. Let us take the civilization +of Rome after the Asiatic wars. It was a grand, +magnificent monument of human genius. It had a +cosmopolitan character: the rhetoricians of Greece +contributed to it the transcendental spirit, the +jurists and publicists of Syria and Alexandria +gave it a code of atheistic, levelling, and monarchical +laws—each part of the empire furnished to the +common store some portion of its ideas, its sciences, +and its character. But whom did this civilization +embrace? The men engaged in the public administration +or in great monetary enterprises, the people +of wealth and of leisure. It was merely submitted +to, not adopted by the masses. The populations +of Europe understood nothing of those Asiatic and +African contributions to the civilization; the inhabitants +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page285" id="page285">[Pg 285]</a></span>of Egypt, Numidia, or Asia, were equally +uninterested in what came from Gaul and Spain, +countries with which they had nothing in common. +But a small minority of the Roman people stood +on the pinnacle, and being in possession of the +secret, valued it. The rest, those not included in +the aristocracy of wealth and position, preserved +the civilization peculiar to the land of their birth, +or, perhaps, had none at all. Here, then, we have +an example of a great and highly perfected civilization, +dominating over untold millions, but +founding its reign not in their desires or convictions, +but in their exhaustion, their weakness, their +listlessness.</p> + +<p>A very different spectacle is presented in China. +The boundless extent of that empire includes, indeed, +several races markedly distinct, but I shall +speak at present only of the national race, the +Chinese proper. One spirit animates the whole of +this immense multitude, which is counted by hundreds +of millions. Whatever we think of their +civilization, whether we admire or censure the +principles upon which it is based, the results which +it has produced, and the direction which it takes; +we cannot deny that it pervades all ranks, that +every individual takes in it a definite and intelligent +part. And this is not because the country is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page286" id="page286">[Pg 286]</a></span> +free, in our sense of the word: there is no democratic +principle which secures, by law, to every +one the position which his efforts may attain, and +thus spurs him on to exertions. No; I discard +all Utopian pictures. The peasant and the man of +the middle classes, in the Celestial Empire, are no +better assured of rising by their own merit only, +than they are elsewhere. It is true that, in theory, +public honors are solely the reward of merit, and +every one is permitted to offer himself as a candidate;<a name="FNanchor-106" id="FNanchor-106"></a><a href="#Footnote-106" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 106.">[106]</a> +but it is well known that, in reality, the +families of great functionaries monopolize all +lucrative offices, and that the scholastic diplomas +often cost more money than efforts of study. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="page287" id="page287">[Pg 287]</a></span> +disappointed or hopeless ambition never leads the +possessor to imagine a different system; the aim +of the reformer is to remedy the abuses of the +established organization, not to substitute another. +The masses may groan under ills and abuses, but +the fault is charged, not to the social and political +system, which to them is an object of unqualified +admiration, but to the persons to whose care the performance +of its duties is committed. The head of +the government, or his functionaries, may become +unpopular, but the form itself, the government, +never. A very remarkable feature of the Chinese +is that among them primary instruction is so +universal; it reaches classes whom we hardly +imagine to have any need of it. The cheapness +of books, the immense number and low price of +the schools, enable even the poorest to acquire the +elements of knowledge, reading and writing.<a name="FNanchor-107" id="FNanchor-107"></a><a href="#Footnote-107" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 107.">[107]</a> The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page288" id="page288">[Pg 288]</a></span> +laws, their spirit and tendency, are well known +and understood by all classes, and the government +prides itself upon facilitating the study of this useful +science.<a name="FNanchor-108" id="FNanchor-108"></a><a href="#Footnote-108" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 108.">[108]</a> The instinct of the masses is decidedly +averse to all political convulsions. Mr. Davis, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="page289" id="page289">[Pg 289]</a></span> +was commissioner of H. B. Majesty in China, and +who studied its affairs with the assiduity of a man +who is interested in understanding them well, says +that the character of the people cannot be better +expressed than by calling them "a nation of steady +conservatives."<a name="FNanchor-109" id="FNanchor-109"></a><a href="#Footnote-109" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 109.">[109]</a></p> + +<p>Here, then, we have a most striking contrast to +the civilization of Rome in her latter days, when +governmental changes occurred in fearfully rapid +succession, until the arrival of the nations of the +north. In every portion of that vast empire, there +were whole populations that had no interest in the +preservation of established order, and were ever +ready to second the maddest schemes, to embark in +any enterprise that seemed to promise advantage, +or that was represented in seductive colors by some +ambitious demagogue. During that long period +of several centuries, no scheme was left untried: +property, religion, the sanctity of family relations, +were all called in question, and innovators in +every portion of the empire, found multitudes +ever disposed to carry their theories into practice +by force. Nothing in the Greco-Roman world +rested on a solid basis, not even the imperial +unity, so indispensable, it would seem, to the mere<span class="pagenum"><a name="page290" id="page290">[Pg 290]</a></span> +self-preservation of such a state of society. It +was not only the armies, with their swarm of +<i>improvisto</i> Cæsars, that undertook the task of +shaking this palladium of national safety; the emperors +themselves, beginning with Diocletian, had +so little faith in monarchy, that they willingly made +the experiment of dualism in the government, +and finally found four at a time not too many for +governing the empire.<a name="FNanchor-110" id="FNanchor-110"></a><a href="#Footnote-110" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 110.">[110]</a> I repeat it, not one institution, +not one principle, was stable in that +wretched state of society, which continued to preserve +some outward form, merely from the physical +impossibility of assuming any others, until the +men of the north came to assist in its demolition.</p> + +<p>Between these two great societies, then, the Roman +empire, and that of China, we perceive the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page291" id="page291">[Pg 291]</a></span> +most complete contrast. By the side of the civilization +of Eastern Asia, I may mention that of +India, Thibet, and other portions of Central Asia, +which is equally universal, and diffused among +all ranks and classes. As in China there is a certain +level of information to which all attain, so in +Hindostan, every one is animated by the same +spirit; each individual knows precisely what his +caste requires him to learn, to think, to believe. +Among the Buddhists of Thibet, and the table-lands +of Asia, nothing is rarer than to find a peasant +who cannot read, and there everybody has the +same convictions upon important subjects.</p> + +<p>Do we find this homogeneity in European nations? +It is scarce worth while to put the question. +Not even the Greco-Roman empire presents incongruities +so strange, or contrasts so striking, as are +to be found among us; not only among the +various nationalities of Europe, but in the bosom +of the same sovereignty. I shall not speak of +Russia, and the states that form the Austrian +empire; the demonstration of my position would +there be too facile. Let us turn to Germany; to +Italy, Southern Italy in particular; to Spain, which, +though in a less degree, presents a similar picture; +or to France.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page292" id="page292">[Pg 292]</a></span>I select France. The difference of manners, in +various parts of this country, has struck even the +most superficial observer, and it has long since +been observed that Paris is separated from the +rest of France by a line of demarcation so decided +and accurately defined, that at the very gates of +the capital, a nation is found, utterly different from +that within the walls. Nothing can be more true: +those who attach to our political unity the idea of +similarity of thoughts, of character—in fine, of +nationality, are laboring under a great delusion. +There is not one principle that governs society +and is connected with our civilization, which is +understood in the same manner in all our departments. +I do not speak here merely of the +peculiarities that characterize the native of Normandy, +of Brittany, Angevin, Limousin, Gascony, +Provence. Every one knows how little alike +these various populations are,<a name="FNanchor-111" id="FNanchor-111"></a><a href="#Footnote-111" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 111.">[111]</a> and how they differ +in their tendencies and modes of thinking. I<span class="pagenum"><a name="page293" id="page293">[Pg 293]</a></span> +wish to draw attention to the fact, that while in +China, Thibet, India, the most essential ideas upon +which the civilization is based, are common to all +classes, participated in by all, it is by no means +so among us. The very rudiments of our knowledge, +the most elementary and most generally accessible +portion of it, remain an impenetrable mystery +to our rural populations, among whom but +few individuals are found acquainted with reading +and writing. This is not for want of opportunities—it +is because no value is attached to these +acquisitions, because their utility is not perceived. +I speak from my own observation, and that of +persons who had ample facilities, and brought +extensive information and great judgment to the +task of investigation. Government has made the +most praiseworthy efforts to remedy the evil, to +raise the peasantry from the sink of ignorance in +which they vegetate. But the wisest laws, and +the most carefully calculated institutions have +proved abortive. The smallest village affords +ample opportunities for common education; even +the adult, when conscription forces him into the +army, finds in the regimental schools every facility +for acquiring the most necessary branches of +knowledge. Compulsion is resorted to—every one +who has lived in the provinces knows with what<span class="pagenum"><a name="page294" id="page294">[Pg 294]</a></span> +success. Parents send their children to school +with undisguised repugnance, for they regret the +time thus spent as wasted, and, therefore, eagerly +seize the most trifling pretext for withdrawing +them, and never suffer them to exceed the legal +term of attendance. So soon as the young man +leaves school, or the soldier has served his time, +they hasten to forget what they were compelled to +learn, and what they are heartily ashamed of. +They return forever after to the local <i>patois</i><a name="FNanchor-112" id="FNanchor-112"></a><a href="#Footnote-112" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 112.">[112]</a> of +their birthplace, and pretend to have forgotten +the French language, which, indeed, is but too +often true. It is a painful conclusion, but one +which many and careful observations have forced +upon me, that all the generous private and public +endeavors to instruct our rural population, are absolutely +futile, and can tend no further than to +enforce an outward compliance. They care not for +the knowledge we wish to give them—they will +not have it, and this not from mere negligence or +apathy, but from a feeling of positive hostility to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page295" id="page295">[Pg 295]</a></span> +our civilization. This is a startling assertion, but +I have not yet adduced all the proofs in support of +it.</p> + +<p>In those parts of the country where the laboring +classes are employed in manufactures principally, +and in the great cities, the workmen are +easily induced to learn to read and write. The +circumstances with which they are surrounded, +leave them no doubt as to the practical advantages +accruing to them from these acquisitions. But so +soon as these men have sufficiently mastered the +first elements of knowledge, to what use do they, +for the most part, apply them? To imbibe or +give vent to ideas and sentiments the most subversive +of all social order. The instinctive, but +passive hostility to our civilization, is superseded +by a bitter and active enmity, often productive +of the most fearful calamities. It is among +these classes that the projectors of the wildest, +most incendiary schemes readily recruit their +partisans; that the advocates of socialism, community +of goods and wives, all, in fact, who, under +the pretext of removing the ills and abuses that +afflict the social system, propose to tear it down, +find ready listeners and zealous believers.</p> + +<p>There are, however, portions of the country to +which this picture does not apply; and these exceptions +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page296" id="page296">[Pg 296]</a></span>furnish me with another proof in favor of +my proposition. Among the agricultural and +manufacturing populations of the north and northeast, +information is general; it is readily received, +and, once received, retained and productive of +good fruits. These people are intelligent, well-informed, +and orderly, like their neighbors in Belgium +and the whole of the Netherlands. And +these, also, are the populations most closely akin +to the Teutonic race, the race which, as I said in +another place, gave the initiative to our civilization.</p> + +<p>The aversion to our civilization, of which I spoke, +is not the only singular feature in the character of +our rural populations. If we penetrate into the privacy +of their thoughts and beliefs, we make discoveries +equally striking and startling. The bishops +and parish clergy have to this day, as they had one, +five, or fifteen centuries ago, to battle with mysterious +superstitions, or hereditary tendencies, some +of which are the more formidable as they are seldom +openly avowed, and can, therefore, be neither +attacked nor conquered. There is no enlightened +priest, that has the care of his flock at heart, but +knows from experience with what deep cunning +the peasant, however devout, knows how to conceal +in his own bosom some fondly cherished traditional +idea or belief, which reveals itself only at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page297" id="page297">[Pg 297]</a></span> +long intervals, and without his knowledge. If he +is spoken to about it, he denies or evades the discussion, +but remains unshaken in his convictions. +He has unbounded confidence in his pastor, unbounded +except upon this one subject, that might +not inappropriately be called his secret religion. +Hence that taciturnity and reserve which, in all +our provinces, is the most marked characteristic +of the peasant, and which he never for a moment +lays aside towards the class he calls <em>bourgeois</em>; that +impassable barrier between him and even the most +popular and well-intentioned landed proprietor of +his district.</p> + +<p>It must not be supposed that this results merely +from rudeness and ignorance. Were it so, +we might console ourselves with the hope that +they will gradually improve and assimilate with +the more enlightened classes. But these people +are precisely like certain savages; at a superficial +glance they appear unreflecting and brutish, +because their exterior is humble, and their +character requires to be studied. But so soon as +we penetrate, however little, into their own circle +of ideas, the feelings that govern their private +life, we discover that in their obstinate isolation +from our civilization, they are not actuated by a +feeling of degradation. Their affections and antipathies +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page298" id="page298">[Pg 298]</a></span>do not arise from mere accidental circumstances, +but, on the contrary, are in accordance +with logical reasoning based upon well-defined +and clearly conceived ideas.<a name="FNanchor-113" id="FNanchor-113"></a><a href="#Footnote-113" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 113.">[113]</a> In speaking of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page299" id="page299">[Pg 299]</a></span> +religious notions awhile ago, I should have remarked +what an immense distance there is between +our doctrines of morals and those of the peasantry, +how widely different are their ideas from those<span class="pagenum"><a name="page300" id="page300">[Pg 300]</a></span> +which we attach to the same word.<a name="FNanchor-114" id="FNanchor-114"></a><a href="#Footnote-114" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 114.">[114]</a> With what +pertinacious obstinacy they continue to look upon +every one not peasant like themselves, as the people +of remote antiquity looked upon a foreigner. +It is true they do not kill him, thanks to the singular +and mysterious terror which the laws, in the +making of which they have no part, inspire them; +but they hate him cordially, distrust him, and if +they can do so without too great a risk, fleece him +without scruple and with immense satisfaction. +Yet they are not wicked or ill-disposed. Among +themselves they are kind-hearted, charitable, and +obliging. But then they regard themselves as a +distinct race—a race, they tell you—that is weak, +oppressed, and that must resort to cunning and +stratagem to gain their due, but which, nevertheless, +preserves its pride and contempt for all others. +In many of our provinces, the laborer believes +himself of much better stock than his former lord<span class="pagenum"><a name="page301" id="page301">[Pg 301]</a></span> +or present employer. The family pride of many +of our peasants is, to say the least, as great as that +of the nobility during the Middle Ages.<a name="FNanchor-115" id="FNanchor-115"></a><a href="#Footnote-115" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 115.">[115]</a></p> + +<p>It cannot be doubted that the lower strata of +the population of France have few features in +common with the higher. Our civilization penetrates +but little below the surface. The great +mass is indifferent—nay, positively hostile to it. +The most tragic events have stained the country +with torrents of blood, unparalleled convulsions +have destroyed every ancient fabric, both social +and political. Yet the agricultural populations +have never been roused from their apathetic indifference,<a name="FNanchor-116" id="FNanchor-116"></a><a href="#Footnote-116" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 116.">[116]</a> +have never taken any other part but that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page302" id="page302">[Pg 302]</a></span> +to which they were forced. When their own personal +and immediate interests were not at stake, +they allowed the tempests to blow by without concern, +without even passive sympathy on one side +or the other. Many persons, frightened and scandalized +at this spectacle, have declared the peasantry +as irreclaimably perverse. This is at the +same time an injustice, and a very false appreciation +of their character. The peasants regard us +almost as their enemies. They comprehend nothing +of our civilization, contribute nothing to it +of their own accord, and they think themselves +authorized to profit by its disasters, whenever they +can. Apart from this antagonism, which sometimes +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page303" id="page303">[Pg 303]</a></span>displays itself in an active, but oftener in a +passive manner, it cannot be doubted that they +possess moral qualities of a high order, though +often singularly applied.</p> + +<p>Such is the state of civilization in France. It +may be asserted that of a population of thirty-six +millions, ten participate in the ideas and mode of +thinking upon which our civilization is based, +while the remaining twenty-six altogether ignore +them, are indifferent and even hostile to them, and +this computation would, I think, be even more +flattering than the real truth. Nor is France an +exception in this respect. The picture I have +given applies to the greater part of Europe. Our +civilization is suspended, as it were, over an unfathomable +gulf, at the bottom of which there slumber +elements which may, one day, be roused and +prove fearfully, irresistibly destructive. This is +an awful, an ominous truth. Upon its ultimate +consequences it is painful to reflect. Wisdom +may, perhaps, foresee the storm, but can do little +to avert it.</p> + +<p>But ignored, despised, or hated as it is by the +greater number of those over whom it extends its +dominion, our civilization is, nevertheless, one of +the grandest, most glorious monuments of the +human mind. In the inventive, initiatory quality<span class="pagenum"><a name="page304" id="page304">[Pg 304]</a></span> +it does not surpass, or even equal some of its predecessors, +but in comprehensiveness it surpasses all. +From this comprehensiveness arise its powers of +appropriation, of conquest; for, to comprehend is +to seize, to possess. It has appropriated all their +acquisitions, and has remodelled, reconstructed +them. It did not create the exact sciences, but it +has given them their exactitude, and has disembarrassed +them from the divagations from which, +by a singular paradox, they were anciently less +free than any other branch of knowledge. Thanks +to its discoveries, the material world is better +known than at any other epoch. The laws by +which nature is governed, it has, in a great measure, +succeeded in unveiling, and it has applied +them so as to produce results truly wonderful. +Gradually, and by the clearness and correctness of +its induction, it has reconstructed immense fragments +of history, of which the ancients had no +knowledge; and as it recedes from the primitive +ages of the world, it penetrates further into the +mist that obscures them. These are great points +of superiority, and which cannot be contested.</p> + +<p>But these being admitted, are we authorized to +conclude—as is so generally assumed as a matter +of course—that the characteristics of our civilization +are such as to entitle it to the pre-eminence<span class="pagenum"><a name="page305" id="page305">[Pg 305]</a></span> +among all others? Let us examine what are its +peculiar excellencies. Thanks to the prodigious +number of various elements that contributed to +its formation, it has an eclectic character which +none of its predecessors or contemporaries possess. +It unites and combines so many various qualities +and faculties, that its progress is equally facile +in all directions; and it has powers of analysis +and generalization so great, that it can embrace +and appropriate all things, and, what is more, +apply them to practical purposes. In other words, +it advances at once in a number of different directions, +and makes valuable conquests in all, but it +cannot be said that it advances at the same time +<em>furthest</em> in all. Variety, perhaps, rather than great +intensity, is its characteristic. If we compare its +progress in any one direction with what has been +done by others in the same, we shall find that in +few, indeed, can our civilization claim pre-eminence. +I shall select three of the most striking +features of every civilization; the art of government, +the state of the fine arts, and refinement of +manners.</p> + +<p>In the art of government, the civilization of +Europe has arrived at no positive result. In this +respect, it has been unable to assume a definite +character. It has laid down no principles. In<span class="pagenum"><a name="page306" id="page306">[Pg 306]</a></span> +every country over which its dominion extends, it +is subservient to the exigencies of the various +races which it has aggregated, but not united. In +England, Holland, Naples, and Russia, political +forms are still in a state of comparative stability, +because either the whole population, or the dominant +portion of it, is composed of the same or +homogeneous elements. But everywhere else, +especially in France, Central Italy, and Germany, +where the ethnical diversity is boundless, governmental +theories have never risen to the dignity of +recognized truth; political science consisted in an +endless series of experiments. Our civilization, +therefore, being unable to assume a definite political +feature, is devoid, in this respect, of that stability +which I comprised as an essential feature in +my definition of a civilization. This impotency +is not found in many other civilizations which we +deem inferior. In the Celestial Empire, in the +Buddhistic and Brahminical societies, the political +feature of the civilization is clearly enounced, and +clearly understood by each individual member. +In matters of politics all think alike; under a wise +administration, when the secular institutions produce +beneficent fruits, all rejoice; when in unskilled +or malignant hands, they endanger the +public welfare, it is a misfortune to be regretted<span class="pagenum"><a name="page307" id="page307">[Pg 307]</a></span> +as we regret our own faults; but no circumstance +can abate the respect and admiration with which +they are regarded. It may be desirable to correct +abuses that have crept into them, but never to replace +them by others. It cannot be denied that +these civilizations, therefore, whatever we may +think of them in other respects, enjoy a guarantee +of durability, of longevity, in which ours is sadly +wanting.</p> + +<p>With regard to the arts, our civilization is decidedly +inferior to others. Whether we aim at +the grand or the beautiful, we cannot rival either +the imposing grandeur of the civilization of Egypt, +of India, or even of the ancient American empires, +nor the elegant beauty of that of Greece. Centuries +hence—when the span of time allotted to us +shall have been consumed, when our civilization, +like all that preceded it, shall have sunk in the +dim shades of the past, and have become a matter +of inquiry only to the historical student—some +future traveller may wander among the forests and +marshes on the banks of the Thames, the Seine, +or the Rhine, but he will find no glorious monuments +of our grandeur; no sumptuous or gigantic +ruins like those of Philæ, of Nineveh, of Athens, of +Salsetta, or of Tenochtitlan. A remote posterity<span class="pagenum"><a name="page308" id="page308">[Pg 308]</a></span> +may venerate our memory as their preceptors in +exact sciences. They may admire our ingenuity, +our patience, the perfection to which we have carried +inductive reasoning—not so our conquests in +the regions of the abstract. In poesy we can bequeath +them nothing. The boundless admiration +which we bestow upon the productions of foreign +civilizations both past and present, is a positive +proof of our own inferiority in this respect.<a name="FNanchor-117" id="FNanchor-117"></a><a href="#Footnote-117" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 117.">[117]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page309" id="page309">[Pg 309]</a></span>Perhaps the most striking features of a civilization, +though not a true standard of its merit, is +the degree of refinement which it has attained. +By refinement I mean all the luxuries and amenities +of life, the regulations of social intercourse, +delicacy of habits and tastes. It cannot be denied +that in all these we do not surpass, nor even equal, +many former as well as contemporaneous civilizations. +We cannot rival the magnificence of the +latter days of Rome, or of the Byzantine empire; +we can but imagine the gorgeous luxury of Eastern +civilizations; and in our own past history we +find periods when the modes of living were more +sumptuous, polished intercourse regulated by a +higher and more exacting standard, when taste +was more cultivated, and habits more refined. It +is true, that we are amply compensated by a +greater and more general diffusion of the comforts +of life; but in its exterior manifestations, our civilization +compares unfavorably with many others, +and might almost be called shabby.</p> + +<p class="tbreak">Before concluding this digression upon civilization, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page310" id="page310">[Pg 310]</a></span>which has already extended perhaps too far, +it may not be unnecessary to reiterate the principal +ideas which I wished to present to the mind +of the reader. I have endeavored to show that +every civilization derives its peculiar character +from the race which gave the initiatory impulse. +The alteration of this initiatory principle produces +corresponding modifications, and even total changes, +in the character of the civilization. Thus our +civilization owes its origin to the Teutonic race, +whose leading characteristic was an elevated utilitarianism. +But as these races ingrafted their mode +of culture upon stocks essentially different, the +character of the civilization has been variously +modified according to the elements which it combined +and amalgamated. The civilization of a +nation, therefore, exhibits the kind and degree of +their capabilities. It is the mirror in which they +reflect their individuality.</p> + +<p>I shall now return to the natural order of my +deductions, the series of which is yet far from +being complete. I commenced by enouncing the +truth that the existence and annihilation of human +societies depended upon immutable and uniform +laws. I have proved the insufficiency of adventitious +circumstances to produce these phenomena, +and have traced their causes to the various capabilities +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page311" id="page311">[Pg 311]</a></span>of different human groups; in other +words, to the moral and intellectual diversity of +races. Logic, then, demands that I should determine +the meaning and bearing of the word race, +and this will be the object of the next chapter.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page312" id="page312">[Pg 312]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h3> + +<p class="center">QUESTION OF UNITY OR PLURALITY OF SPECIES.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>Systems of Camper, Blumenbach, Morton, Carus—Investigations +of Owen, Vrolik, Weber—Prolificness of hybrids, the great +scientific stronghold of the advocates of unity of species.</p></div> + + +<p>It will be necessary to determine first the physiological +bearing of the word <em>race</em>.</p> + +<p>In the opinion of many scientific observers, who +judge from the first impression, and take extremes<a name="FNanchor-118" id="FNanchor-118"></a><a href="#Footnote-118" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 118.">[118]</a> +as the basis of their reasoning, the groups of the +human family are distinguished by differences so +radical and essential, that it is impossible to believe +them all derived from the same stock. They, +therefore, suppose several other genealogies besides +that of Adam and Eve. According to this doctrine, +instead of but one species in the genus <i>homo</i>, +there would be three, four, or even more, entirely<span class="pagenum"><a name="page313" id="page313">[Pg 313]</a></span> +distinct ones, whose commingling would produce +what the naturalists call <em>hybrids</em>.</p> + +<p>General conviction is easily secured in favor of +this theory, by placing before the eyes of the observer +instances of obvious and striking dissimilarities +among the various groups. The critic who +has before him a human subject with a skin of +olive-yellow; black, straight, and thin hair; little, +if any beard, eyebrows, and eyelashes; a broad +and flattened face, with features not very distinct; +the space between the eyes broad and flat; the +orbits large and open; the nose flattened; the +cheeks high and prominent; the opening of the +eyelids narrow, linear, and oblique, the inner angle +the lowest; the ears and lips large; the forehead +low and slanting, allowing a considerable portion +of the face to be seen when viewed from above; +the head of somewhat a pyramidal form; the limbs +clumsy; the stature humble; the whole conformation +betraying a marked tendency to obesity:<a name="FNanchor-119" id="FNanchor-119"></a><a href="#Footnote-119" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 119.">[119]</a> the +critic who examines this specimen of humanity, +at once recognizes a well characterized and clearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page314" id="page314">[Pg 314]</a></span> +defined type, the principal features of which will +readily be imprinted in his memory.</p> + +<p>Let us suppose him now to examine another individual: +a negro, from the western coast of +Africa. This specimen is of large size, and vigorous +appearance. The color is a jetty black, the +hair crisp, generally called <em>woolly</em>; the eyes are +prominent, and the orbits large; the nose thick, +flat, and confounded with the prominent cheeks; +the lips very thick and everted; the jaws projecting, +and the chin receding; the skull assuming +the form called prognathous. The low forehead +and muzzle-like elongation of the jaws, give to +the whole being an almost animal appearance, +which is heightened by the large and powerful +lower-jaw, the ample provision for muscular insertions, +the greater size of cavities destined for the +reception of the organs of smell and sight, the +length of the forearm compared with the arm, the +narrow and tapering fingers, etc. "In the negro, +the bones of the leg are bent outwards; the tibia +and fibula are more convex in front than in the +European; the calves of the legs are very high, +so as to encroach upon the hams; the feet and +hand, but particularly the former, are flat; the os +calcis, instead of being arched, is continued nearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page315" id="page315">[Pg 315]</a></span> +in a straight line with the other bones of the foot, +which is remarkably broad."<a name="FNanchor-120" id="FNanchor-120"></a><a href="#Footnote-120" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 120.">[120]</a></p> + +<p>In contemplating a human being so formed, we +are involuntarily reminded of the structure of the +ape, and we feel almost inclined to admit that the +tribes of Western Africa are descended from a +stock which bears but a slight and general resemblance +to that of the Mongolian family.</p> + +<p>But there are some groups, whose aspect is even +less flattering to the self-love of humanity than +that of the Congo. It is the peculiar distinction +of Oceanica to furnish about the most degraded +and repulsive of those wretched beings, who seem +to occupy a sort of intermediate station between +man and the mere brute. Many of the groups of +that latest-discovered world, by the excessive leanness +and starveling development of their limbs;<a name="FNanchor-121" id="FNanchor-121"></a><a href="#Footnote-121" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 121.">[121]</a> +the disproportionate size of their heads; the excessive, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page316" id="page316">[Pg 316]</a></span>hopeless stupidity stamped upon their +countenances; present an aspect so hideous and +disgusting, that—contrasted with them—even the +negro of Western Africa gains in our estimation, +and seems to claim a less ignoble descent than +they.</p> + +<p>We are still more tempted to adopt the conclusions +of the advocates for the plurality of species, +when, after having examined types taken from +every quarter of the globe, we return to the inhabitants +of Europe and Southern and Western +Asia. How vast a superiority these exhibit in +beauty, correctness of proportion, and regularity +of features! It is they who enjoy the honor of +having furnished the living models for the unrivalled +masterpieces of ancient sculpture. But +even among these races there has existed, since the +remotest times, a gradation of beauty, at the head +of which the European may justly be placed, as +well for symmetry of limbs as for vigorous muscular +development. Nothing, then, would appear +more reasonable than to pronounce the different +types of mankind as foreign to each other as are +animals of different species.</p> + +<p>Such, indeed, was the conclusion arrived at by +those who first systematized their observations, and +attempted to establish a classification; and so far<span class="pagenum"><a name="page317" id="page317">[Pg 317]</a></span> +as this classification depended upon general facts, +it seemed incontestable.</p> + +<p><cite>Camper</cite> took the lead. He was not content +with deciding upon merely superficial appearances, +but wished to rest his demonstrations upon a +mathematical basis, by defining, anatomically, the +distinguishing characteristics of different types. +If he succeeded in this, he would thereby establish +a strict and logical method of treating the subject, +preclude all doubt, and give to his opinions that +rigorous precision without which there is no true +science. I borrow from Mr. Prichard,<a name="FNanchor-122" id="FNanchor-122"></a><a href="#Footnote-122" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 122.">[122]</a> Camper's +own account of his method. "The basis on which +the distinction of nations<a name="FNanchor-123" id="FNanchor-123"></a><a href="#Footnote-123" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 123.">[123]</a> is founded, says he, may +be displayed by two straight lines; one of which +is to be drawn through the <i>meatus auditorius</i> (the +external entrance of the ear) to the base of the +nose; and the other touching the prominent centre +of the forehead, and falling thence on the most +prominent part of the upper jaw-bone, the head +being viewed in profile. In the angle produced +by these two lines, may be said to consist, not +only the distinctions between the skulls of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page318" id="page318">[Pg 318]</a></span> +several species of animals, but also those which +are found to exist between different nations; and +it might be concluded that nature has availed herself +of this angle to mark out the diversities of +the animal kingdom, and at the same time to establish +a scale from the inferior tribes up to the +most beautiful forms which are found in the human +species. Thus it will be found that the heads of +birds display the smallest angle, and that it always +becomes of greater extent as the animal approaches +more nearly to the human figure. Thus, there is +one species of the ape tribe, in which the head has +a facial angle of forty-two degrees; in another animal +of the same family, which is one of those +simiæ most approximating in figure to mankind, +the facial angle contains exactly fifty degrees. +Next to this is the head of an African negro, +which, as well as that of the Kalmuc, forms an +angle of seventy degrees; while the angle discovered +in the heads of Europeans contains eighty +degrees. On this difference of ten degrees in the +facial angle, the superior beauty of the European +depends; while that high character of sublime +beauty, which is so striking in some works of +ancient statuary, as in the head of Apollo, and in +the Medusa of Sisocles, is given by an angle +which amounts to one hundred degrees."</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page319" id="page319">[Pg 319]</a></span>This method was seductive from its exceeding +simplicity. Unfortunately, facts were against it, +as happens to a good many theories. The curious +and interesting discoveries of Prof. Owen have +proved beyond dispute, that Camper, as well as +other anatomists since him, founded all their observations +on orangs of immature age, and that, +while the jaws become enlarged, and lengthened +with the increase of the maxillary apparatus, and +the zygomatic arch is extended, no corresponding +increase of the brain takes place. The importance +of this difference of age, with respect to the facial +angle, is very great in the simiæ. Thus, while +Camper, measuring the skull of young apes, has +found the facial angle even as much as sixty-four +degrees; in reality, it never exceeds, in the most +favored specimen, from thirty to thirty-five. +Between this figure and the seventy degrees of the +negro and Kalmuc, there is too wide a gap to +admit of the possibility of Camper's ascending +series.</p> + +<p>The advocates of phrenological science eagerly +espoused the theory of the Dutch <i>savant</i>. They +imagined that they could detect a development of +instincts corresponding to the rank which the animal +occupied in his scale. But even here facts +were against them. It was objected that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page320" id="page320">[Pg 320]</a></span> elephant—not +to mention numerous other instances—whose +intelligence is incontestably superior to that +of the orang, presents a much more acute facial +angle than the latter. Even among the ape tribes, +the most intelligent, those most susceptible of +education, are by no means the highest in Camper's +scale.</p> + +<p>Besides these great defects, the theory possessed +another very weak point. It did not apply to all +the varieties of the human species. The races +with pyramidal skulls found no place in it. Yet +this is a sufficiently striking characteristic.</p> + +<p>Camper's theory being refuted, <cite>Blumenbach</cite> proposed +another system. He called his invention +<i>norma verticalis</i>, the vertical method. According +to him,<a name="FNanchor-124" id="FNanchor-124"></a><a href="#Footnote-124" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 124.">[124]</a> the comparison of the breadth of the +head, particularly of the vertex, points out the +principal and most strongly marked differences in +the general configuration of the cranium. He +adds that the whole cranium is susceptible of so +many varieties in its form, the parts which contribute +more or less to determine the national +character displaying such different proportions and +directions, that it is impossible to subject all these +diversities to the measurement of any lines and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page321" id="page321">[Pg 321]</a></span> +angles. In comparing and arranging skulls according +to the varieties in their shape, it is preferable +to survey them in that method which presents +at one view the greatest number of characteristic +peculiarities. "The best way of obtaining this +end is to place a series of skulls, with the cheek-bones +on the same horizontal line, resting on the +lower jaws, and then, viewing them from behind, +and fixing the eye on the vertex of each, to mark +all the varieties in the shape of parts that contribute +most to the national character, whether +they consist in the direction of the maxillary and +malar bones, in the breadth or narrowness of the +oval figure presented by the vertex, or in the flattened +or vaulted form of the frontal bone."</p> + +<p>The results which Blumenbach deduced from +this method, were a division of mankind into +five grand categories, each of which was again +subdivided into a variety of families and types.</p> + +<p>This classification, also, is liable to many objections. +Like Camper's, it left out several important +characteristics. <cite>Owen</cite> supposed that these +objections might be obviated by measuring the +basis of the skull instead of the summit. "The +relative proportions and extent," says Prichard, +"and the peculiarities of formation of the different +parts of the cranium, are more fully discovered<span class="pagenum"><a name="page322" id="page322">[Pg 322]</a></span> +by this mode of comparison, than by any other." +One of the most important results of this method +was the discovery of a line of demarcation between +man and the anthropoid apes, so distinct, +and clearly drawn, that it becomes thenceforward +impossible to find between the two genera the +connecting link which Camper supposed to exist. +It is, indeed, sufficient to cast one glance at the +bases of two skulls, one human, and the other +that of an orang, to perceive essential and decisive +differences. The antero-posterior diameter of +the basis of the skull is, in the orang, very much +longer than in man. The zygoma is situated in +the middle region of the skull, instead of being +included, as in all races of men, and even human +idiots, in the anterior half of the basis cranii; and +it occupies in the basis just one-third part of the +entire length of its diameter. Moreover, the position +of the great occipital foramen is very different +in the two skulls; and this feature is very important, +on account of its relations to the general +character of structure, and its influence on the +habits of the whole being. This foramen, in the +human head, is very near the middle of the basis +of the skull, or, rather, it is situated immediately +behind the middle transverse diameter; while, in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page323" id="page323">[Pg 323]</a></span> +the adult chimpantsi, it is placed in the middle of +the posterior third part of the basis cranii.<a name="FNanchor-125" id="FNanchor-125"></a><a href="#Footnote-125" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 125.">[125]</a></p> + +<p>Owen certainly deserves great credit for his observations, +but I should prefer the most recent, as +well as ingenious, of cranioscopic systems, that of +the learned American, Dr. Morton, which has been +adopted by Mr. Carus.<a name="FNanchor-126" id="FNanchor-126"></a><a href="#Footnote-126" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 126.">[126]</a></p> + +<p>The substance of this theory is, that individuals +are superior in intellect in proportion as their skulls +are larger.<a name="FNanchor-127" id="FNanchor-127"></a><a href="#Footnote-127" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 127.">[127]</a> Taking this as the general rule, Dr. +Morton and Mr. Carus proceed thereby to demonstrate +the difference of races. The question to be +decided is, whether all types of the human race +have the same craniological development.</p> + +<p>To elucidate this fact, Dr. Morton took a certain +number of skulls, belonging to the four principal +human families—Whites, Mongolians, Negroes, +and North American Indians—and, after +carefully closing every aperture, except the <i>foramen +magnum</i>, he measured their capacity by filling +them with well dried grains of pepper. The results +of this measurement are exhibited in the +subjoined table.<a name="FNanchor-128" id="FNanchor-128"></a><a href="#Footnote-128" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 128.">[128]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page324" id="page324">[Pg 324]</a></span></p> + +<div class="center"> +<table title="Skull capacity of various races" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="White races have the highest average skull capacity; Negroes have the lowest."> + <tr> + <th class="bt bb br" colspan="3"></th> + <th class="bbox" abbr="number" scope="col">Number<br />of skulls<br />measured.</th> + <th class="bbox" abbr="capacity" scope="col">Average<br />capacity.</th> + <th class="bbox" abbr="max" scope="col">Maximum.</th> + <th class="bt bb bl" abbr="min" scope="col">Minimum.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left bt br" colspan="3" id="a1">White races</th> + <td class="bl br" headers="a1">52</td> + <td class="bl br" headers="a1">87</td> + <td class="bl br" headers="a1">109</td> + <td class="bl" headers="a1">75</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left" rowspan="2">Yellow races</th> + <td rowspan="2"><span style="font-size:300%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.5em;text-indent:0;">{</span></td> + <th class="left br" id="a2">Mongolians</th> + <td class="bl br" headers="a2">10</td> + <td class="bl br" headers="a2">83</td> + <td class="bl br" headers="a2">93</td> + <td class="bl" headers="a2">69</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left br" id="a3">Malays</th> + <td class="bl br" headers="a3">18</td> + <td class="bl br" headers="a3">81</td> + <td class="bl br" headers="a3">89</td> + <td class="bl" headers="a3">64</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left br" colspan="3" id="a4">Copper-colored races</th> + <td class="bl br" headers="a4">147</td> + <td class="bl br" headers="a4">82</td> + <td class="bl br" headers="a4">100</td> + <td class="bl" headers="a4">60</td> + </tr> + <tr class="bb"> + <th class="left br" colspan="3" id="a5">Negroes</th> + <td class="bl br" headers="a5">29</td> + <td class="bl br" headers="a5">78</td> + <td class="bl br" headers="a5">94</td> + <td class="bl" headers="a5">65</td> + </tr> +</table></div> + + + +<p>The results given in the first two columns are +certainly very curious, but to those in the last two +I attach little value. These two columns, giving +the maximum and minimum capacities, differ so +greatly from the second, which shows the average, +that they could be of weight only if Mr. Morton +had experimented upon a much greater number of +skulls, and if he had specified the social position +of the individuals to whom they belonged. Thus, +for his specimens of the white and copper-colored +races, he might select skulls that had belonged to +individuals rather above the common herd.<a name="FNanchor-129" id="FNanchor-129"></a><a href="#Footnote-129" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 129.">[129]</a> But<span class="pagenum"><a name="page325" id="page325">[Pg 325]</a></span> +the Blacks and Mongolians were not represented +by the skulls of their great chiefs and mandarins. +This explains why Dr. Morton could ascribe the +figure 100 to an aboriginal of America, while the +most intelligent Mongolian that he examined did +not exceed 93, and is surpassed even by the negro, +who reaches 94. Such results are entirely incomplete, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page326" id="page326">[Pg 326]</a></span>fortuitous, and of no scientific value. In +questions of this kind, too much care cannot be +taken to reject conclusions which are based upon +the examination of individualities. I am, therefore, +unable to accept the second half of Dr. Morton's +calculations.</p> + +<p>I am also disposed to doubt one of the details +in the other half. The figures 100, 83, and 78, +respectively indicating the average capacity of the +skull of the white, Mongolian, and negro, follow +a clear and evident gradation. But the figures 83, +81, and 82, given for the Mongol, the Malay, and +the red-skin, are conflicting; the more so, as Mr. +Carus does not hesitate to comprise the Mongols +and Malays into one and the same race, and thus +unites the figures 83 and 81—by which he receives, +as the average capacity of the yellow race, +82, or the same as that of the red-skins. Wherefore, +then, take the figure 82 as the characteristic +of a distinct race, and thus create, quite arbitrarily, +a fourth great subdivision of our species.</p> + +<p>This anomaly supports the weak side of Mr. +Carus's system. The learned Saxon amuses himself +by supposing that, just as we see our planet +pass through the four stages of day, night, morning +twilight, and evening twilight, so there <em>must</em> +be four subdivisions of the human species, corresponding +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page327" id="page327">[Pg 327]</a></span>to these variations of light. He perceives +in this a symbol,<a name="FNanchor-130" id="FNanchor-130"></a><a href="#Footnote-130" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 130.">[130]</a> which is always a dangerous +temptation to a mind of refined susceptibilities. +The white races are to him the nations of day; +the black, those of night; the yellow, those of +morning; the red, those of evening. It will be +perceived how many ingenious analogies may be +brought forward in support of this fanciful invention. +Thus, the European nations, by the brilliancy +of their scientific discoveries and their superior +civilization, are in an enlightened state, while the +blacks are plunged in the gloomy darkness of +ignorance. The Eastern nations live in a sort of +twilight, which affords them an incomplete, though +powerful, social existence. And as for the Indians +of the Western World, who are rapidly disappearing, +what more beautiful image of their destiny +can be found than the setting sun?</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, parables are no arguments, and +Mr. Carus has somewhat injured his beautiful +theory by unduly abandoning himself to this +poetical current. Moreover, what I have said +with regard to all other ethnological theories—those +of Camper, Blumenbach, and Owen—holds +good of this: Mr. Carus does not succeed in systematizing +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page328" id="page328">[Pg 328]</a></span>regularly the whole of the physiological +diversities observable in races.<a name="FNanchor-131" id="FNanchor-131"></a><a href="#Footnote-131" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 131.">[131]</a></p> + +<p>The advocates for unity of species have not +failed to take advantage of this inability on the +part of their opponents to find a system which +will include the many varieties of the human +family; and they pretend that, as the observations +upon the conformation of the skull cannot be reduced +to a system which demonstrates the original +separation of types, the different varieties must be +regarded as simple divergencies occasioned by adventitious +and secondary causes, and which do not +prove a difference of origin.</p> + +<p>This is crying victory too soon. The difficulty +of finding a method does not always prove that +none can be found. But the believers in the +unity of species did not admit this reserve. To +set off their theory, they point to the fact that certain +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page329" id="page329">[Pg 329]</a></span>tribes, belonging to the same race, instead of +presenting the same physical type, diverge from it +very considerably. They cite the different groups +of the mixed Malay-Polynesian family; and, without +paying attention to the proportion of the elements +which compose the mixtures, they say that +if groups of the same origin can assume such +totally different craniological and facial forms, the +greatest diversities of that kind do not prove the +primary plurality of origins.<a name="FNanchor-132" id="FNanchor-132"></a><a href="#Footnote-132" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 132.">[132]</a> Strange as it may +be to European eyes, the distinct types of the +negro and the Mongolian are not then demonstrative +of difference of species; and the differences +among the human family must be ascribed +simply to certain local causes operating during a +greater or less lapse of time.<a name="FNanchor-133" id="FNanchor-133"></a><a href="#Footnote-133" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 133.">[133]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page330" id="page330">[Pg 330]</a></span>The advocates for the plurality of races, being +met with so many objections, good as well as bad, +have attempted to enlarge the circle of their arguments, +and, ceasing to make the skull their only +study, have proceeded to the examination of the +entire individual. They have rightly shown that +the differences do not exist merely in the aspect +of the face and formation of the skull, but, what +is no less important, they exist also in the shape +of the pelvis, the relative proportion of the limbs, +and the nature of the pilous system.</p> + +<p>Camper and other naturalists had long since +perceived that the pelvis of the negro presented +certain peculiarities. Dr. Vrolik extended his researches +further, and observed that in the European +race the differences between the male and +female pelvis are much less distinctly marked, +while the pelvis of the negro, of either sex, partakes +in a very striking degree of the animal character. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page331" id="page331">[Pg 331]</a></span>The Amsterdam <i>savant</i>, starting from the +idea that the formation of the pelvis necessarily +influences that of the fœtus, concludes that there +must be difference of origin.<a name="FNanchor-134" id="FNanchor-134"></a><a href="#Footnote-134" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 134.">[134]</a></p> + +<p>Mr. Weber has attacked this theory with but +little success. He was obliged to allow that certain +formations of the pelvis occur more frequently +in one race than in another; and all he could do, +was to show that the rule is not without exceptions, +and that some individuals of the American, African, +or Mongol race presented the forms common +among the European. This is not proving a great +deal, especially as it never seems to have occurred +to Mr. Weber that these exceptions might be +owing to a mixture of blood.</p> + +<p>The adversaries of the unity doctrine pretend +that the European is better proportioned. They +are answered that the excessive leanness of the +extremities among those nations which subsist +principally on vegetable diet, or whose alimentation +is imperfect, is not at all surprising; and this +reply is certainly valid. But a much less conclusive +reply is made to the argument drawn from +the excessive development of bust among the +mountaineers of Peru (Quichuas) by those who<span class="pagenum"><a name="page332" id="page332">[Pg 332]</a></span> +are unwilling to recognize it as a specific characteristic; +for to pretend, as they do, that it can be +explained by the elevation of the Andes, is not +advancing a very serious reason.<a name="FNanchor-135" id="FNanchor-135"></a><a href="#Footnote-135" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 135.">[135]</a> There are in +the world many mountain populations who are +constituted very differently from the Quichuas.<a name="FNanchor-136" id="FNanchor-136"></a><a href="#Footnote-136" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 136.">[136]</a></p> + +<p>The color of the skin is another argument for +diversity of origin. But the opposite party refuse +to accept this as a specific characteristic, for two +reasons: first, because, they say, this coloration +depends upon climatic circumstances, and is not +permanent—which is, to say the least of it, a +very bold assertion; secondly, because color is +liable to indefinite gradations, by which white +insensibly passes into yellow, yellow into black, +so that it is impossible to find a line of demarcation +sufficiently decided. This fact simply proves +the existence of innumerable hybrids; an observation +to which the advocates for unity are constantly +inattentive.</p> + +<p>With regard to the specific differences in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page333" id="page333">[Pg 333]</a></span> +formation of the pile, Mr. Flourens brings his great +authority in favor of the original unity of race.<a name="FNanchor-137" id="FNanchor-137"></a><a href="#Footnote-137" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 137.">[137]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page334" id="page334">[Pg 334]</a></span>I have now passed rapidly in review the more +or less inconsistent arguments of the advocates of +unity; but their strongest one still remains. It is +of great force, and I therefore reserved it for the +last—the facility with which the different branches +of the human family produce hybrids, and the +fecundity of these hybrids themselves.</p> + +<p>The observations of naturalists seem to have +well established the fact that half-breeds can +spring only from nearly related species, and that +even in that case they are condemned to sterility. +It has been further observed that, even among +closely allied species, where fecundation is possible, +copulation is repugnant, and obtained, generally, +either by force or ruse, which would lead +us to suppose that, in a state of nature, the number +of hybrids is even more limited than that +obtained by the intervention of man. It has, +therefore, been concluded that, among the number +of specific characteristics, we must place the +faculty of producing prolific offspring.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page335" id="page335">[Pg 335]</a></span>As nothing authorizes us to believe that the +human race are exempt from this law, so nothing +has hitherto been able to shake the strength of +this objection,<a name="FNanchor-138" id="FNanchor-138"></a><a href="#Footnote-138" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 138.">[138]</a> which, more than all the others, +holds the advocates for plurality in check. It is, +indeed, affirmed that, in certain portions of Oceanica, +indigenous women, after having brought forth +a half-breed European child, can no longer be +fecundated by compatriots. If this assertion be +admitted as correct, it might serve as a starting +point for further investigations; but at present it +could not be used to invalidate the admitted principles +of science upon the generation of hybrids—against +the deductions drawn from these it proves +nothing.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page336" id="page336">[Pg 336]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h3> + +<p class="center">PERMANENCY OF TYPES.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>The language of Holy Writ in favor of common origin—The +permanency of their characteristics separates the races of +men as effectually as if they were distinct creations—Arabs, +Jews—Prichard's argument about the influence of climate +examined—Ethnological history of the Turks and Hungarians.</p></div> + + +<p>The believers in unity of race affirm that types +are different in appearance only; that, in fact, the +differences existing among them are owing to local +circumstances still in operation, or to an accidental +peculiarity of conformation in the progenitor of a +branch, and that, though they all, more or less, +diverge from the original prototype, they all are +capable of again returning to it. According to +this, then, the negro, the North American savage, +the Tungoose of North Siberia, might, under +favorable circumstances, gain all the physical and +mental attributes which now distinguish the European. +Such a theory is inadmissible.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page337" id="page337">[Pg 337]</a></span>We have shown above that the only solid scientific +stronghold of the believers in unity of species +is the prolificness of human hybrids. This fact, +which seems at present so difficult to refute, may +not always present the same difficulties, and would +not, by itself, suffice to arrest my conclusions, +were it not supported by another argument which, +I confess, appears to me of greater moment: +Scripture is said to declare against difference of +origin.</p> + +<p>If the text is clear, peremptory, and indisputable, +we must submit; the most serious doubts must +disappear; human reason, in its imperfection, must +bow to faith. Better to let the veil of obscurity +cover a point of erudition, than to call in question +so high and incontestable an authority. If the +Bible declares that mankind are descended from +the same common stock, all that goes to prove the +contrary is mere semblance, unworthy of consideration. +But is the Bible really explicit on this +point? The sacred writings have a much higher +purpose than the elucidation of ethnological problems; +and if it be admitted that they may have +been misunderstood in this particular, and that +without straining the text, it may be interpreted +otherwise, I return to my first impression.</p> + +<p>The Bible evidently speaks of Adam as the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page338" id="page338">[Pg 338]</a></span> +progenitor of the white race, because from him +are descended generations which—it cannot be +doubted—were white. But nothing proves that +at the first redaction of the Adamite genealogies +the colored races were considered as forming part +of the species. There is not a word said about the +yellow nations, and I hope to prove, in my second +volume, that the pretended black color of the +patriarch Ham rests upon no other basis than an +arbitrary interpretation. At a later period, doubtless, +translators and commentators, who affirmed +that Adam was the father of all beings called men, +were obliged to bring in as descendants of the sons +of Noah all the different varieties with whom they +were acquainted. In this manner, Japheth was +considered the progenitor of the European nations, +while the inhabitants of the greater portion of +Asia were looked upon as the descendants of +Shem; and those of Africa, of Ham. This arrangement +answers admirably for one portion of +the globe. But what becomes of the population +of the rest of the world, who are not included in +this classification?</p> + +<p>I will not, at present, particularly insist upon +this idea. I dislike the mere appearance of impugning +even simple interpretations if they have +the sanction of the church, and wish merely to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page339" id="page339">[Pg 339]</a></span> +intimate that their authority might, perhaps, be +questioned without transgressing the limits established +by the church.<a name="FNanchor-139" id="FNanchor-139"></a><a href="#Footnote-139" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 139.">[139]</a> If this is not the case, and +we must accept, in the main, the opinions of the +believers in unity, I still do not despair that the +facts may be explained in a manner different from +theirs, and that the principal physical and moral +differences among the branches of the human +family may exist, with all their necessary consequences, +independently of unity or plurality of +origin.</p> + +<p>The specific identity of all canines is acknowledged,<a name="FNanchor-140" id="FNanchor-140"></a><a href="#Footnote-140" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 140.">[140]</a> +but who would undertake the difficult +task of proving that all these animals, to whatever +variety they may belong, were possessed of +the same shapes, instincts, habits, qualities? The +same is the case with many other species, the +equine, bovine, ursine, etc. Here we find perfect +identity of origin, and yet diversity in every other +respect, and a diversity so radical, that even intermixture +can not produce a real identity of character +in the several types. On the contrary, so long<span class="pagenum"><a name="page340" id="page340">[Pg 340]</a></span> +as each type remains pure, their distinctive features +are permanent, and reproduced, without any sensible +deviation, in each successive generation.<a name="FNanchor-141" id="FNanchor-141"></a><a href="#Footnote-141" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 141.">[141]</a></p> + +<p>This incontestable fact has led to the inquiry +whether in those species which, by domestication, +have lost their original habits, and contracted +others, the forms and instincts of the primitive +stock were still discernible. I think this highly +improbable, and can hardly believe that we shall +ever be able to determine the shape and characteristics +of the prototype of each species, and how +much or how little it is approached by the deviations +now before our eyes. A very great number +of vegetables present the same problem, and with +regard to man, whose origin it is most interesting +and important for us to know, the inquiry seems +to be attended with the greatest and most insurmountable +difficulties.</p> + +<p>Each race is convinced that its progenitor had +precisely the characteristics which now distinguish<span class="pagenum"><a name="page341" id="page341">[Pg 341]</a></span> +it. This is the only point upon which their traditions +perfectly agree. The white races represent +to themselves an Adam and Eve, whom Blumenbach +would at once have pronounced Caucasians; +the Mohammedan negroes, on the contrary, believe +the first pair to have been black; these being created +in God's own image, it follows that the Supreme +Being, and also the angels, are of the same +color, and the prophet himself was certainly too +greatly favored by his Sender to display a pale +skin to his disciples.<a name="FNanchor-142" id="FNanchor-142"></a><a href="#Footnote-142" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 142.">[142]</a></p> + +<p>Unfortunately, modern science has as yet found +no clue to this maze of opinions. No admissible +theory has been advanced which affords the least +light upon the subject, and, in all probability, the +various types differ as much from their common +progenitor—if they possess one—as they do among +themselves. The causes of these deviations are<span class="pagenum"><a name="page342" id="page342">[Pg 342]</a></span> +exceedingly difficult to ascertain. The believers +in the unity of origin pretend to find them, as I remarked +before, in various local circumstances, such +as climate, habits, &c. It is impossible to coincide +with such an opinion, for, although these circumstances +have always existed, they have not, within +historical times, produced such alterations in the +races which were exposed to their influence as to +make it even probable that they were the causes +of so vast and radical a dissimilarity as we now +see before us. Suppose two tribes, not yet departed +from the primitive type, to inhabit, one an +alpine region in the interior of a continent, the +other some isolated isle in the immensity of the +ocean. Their atmospheric and alimentary conditions +would, of course, be totally different. If we +further suppose one of these tribes to be abundantly +provided with nourishment, and the other +possessing but precarious means of subsistence; +one to inhabit a cold latitude, and the other to be +exposed to the action of a tropical sun; it seems +to me that we have accumulated the most essential +local contrasts. Allowing these physical causes to +operate a sufficient lapse of time, the two groups +would, no doubt, ultimately assume certain peculiar +characteristics, by which they might be distinguished +from each other. But no imaginable<span class="pagenum"><a name="page343" id="page343">[Pg 343]</a></span> +length of time could bring about any essential, +organic change of conformation; and as a proof +of this assertion, I would point to the populations +of opposite portions of the globe, living under +physical conditions the most widely different, who, +nevertheless, present a perfect resemblance of type.</p> + +<p>The Hottentots so strongly resemble the inhabitants +of the Celestial Empire, that it has even been +supposed, though without good reasons, that they +were originally a Chinese colony. A great similarity +exists between the ancient Etruscans, whose +portraits have come down to us, and the Araucanians +of South America. The features and outlines +of the Cherokees seem to be perfectly identical +with those of several Italian populations, the +Calabrians, for instance. The inhabitants of Auvergne, +especially the female portion, much more +nearly resemble in physiognomy several Indian +tribes of North America than any European nation. +Thus we see that in very different climes, +and under conditions of life so very dissimilar, +nature can reproduce the same forms. The peculiar +characteristics which now distinguish the different +types cannot, therefore, be the effects of +local circumstances such as now exist.<a name="FNanchor-143" id="FNanchor-143"></a><a href="#Footnote-143" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 143.">[143]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page344" id="page344">[Pg 344]</a></span>Though it is impossible to ascertain what physical +changes different branches of the human +family may have undergone anterior to the historic +epoch, yet we have the best proofs that since +then, no race has changed its peculiar characteristics. +The historic epoch comprises about one +half of the time during which our earth is supposed +to have been inhabited, and there are several +nations whom we can trace up to the verge of +ante-historic ages; yet we find that the races then +known have remained the same to our days, even +though they ceased to inhabit the same localities, +and consequently were no longer exposed to the +influence of the same external conditions.</p> + +<p>Witness the Arabs. As they are represented +on the monuments of Egypt, so we find them at +present, not only in the arid deserts of their native +land, but in the fertile regions and moist climate +of Malabar, Coromandel, and the islands of the +Indian Ocean. We find them again, though more +mixed, on the northern coasts of Africa, and, although +many centuries have elapsed since their +invasion, traces of Arab blood are still discernible<span class="pagenum"><a name="page345" id="page345">[Pg 345]</a></span> +in some portions of Roussillon, Languedoc, and +Spain.</p> + +<p>Next to the Arabs I would instance the Jews. +They have emigrated to countries in every respect +the most dissimilar to Palestine, and have not +even preserved their ancient habits of life. Yet +their type has always remained peculiar and the +same in every latitude and under every physical +condition. The warlike Rechabites in the deserts +of Arabia present to us the same features as our +own peaceable Jews. I had occasion not long +since to examine a Polish Jew. The cut of his +face, and especially his eyes, perfectly betrayed +his origin. This inhabitant of a northern zone, +whose direct ancestors for several generations had +lived among the snows and ice of an inhospitable +clime, seemed to have been tanned but the day +before, by the ardent rays of a Syrian sun. The +same Shemitic face which the Egyptian artist represented +some four thousand or more years ago, +we recognize daily around us; and its principal +and really characteristic features are equally +strikingly preserved under the most diverse climatic +circumstances. But the resemblance is not +confined to the face only, it extends to the conformation +of the limbs and the nature of the temperament. +German Jews are generally smaller<span class="pagenum"><a name="page346" id="page346">[Pg 346]</a></span> +and more slender in stature than the European +nations among whom they have lived for centuries; +and the age of puberty arrives earlier +with them than with their compatriots of another +race.<a name="FNanchor-144" id="FNanchor-144"></a><a href="#Footnote-144" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 144.">[144]</a></p> + +<p>This is, I am aware, an assertion diametrically +opposed to Mr. Prichard's opinions. This celebrated +physiologist, in his zeal to prove the unity +of species, attempts to prove that the age of puberty +in both sexes is the same everywhere and +among all races. His arguments are based upon +the precepts of the Old Testament and the Koran, +by which the marriageable age of women is fixed +at fifteen, and even eighteen, according to Abou-Hanifah.<a name="FNanchor-145" id="FNanchor-145"></a><a href="#Footnote-145" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 145.">[145]</a></p> + +<p>I hardly think that biblical testimony is admissible +in matters of this kind, because the Scriptures +often narrate facts which cannot be accounted +for by the ordinary laws of nature. Thus, the +pregnancy of Sarah at an extreme old age, and +when Abraham himself was a centenarian, is an +event upon which no ordinary course of reasoning +could be based. As for the precepts of the Mohammedan +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page347" id="page347">[Pg 347]</a></span>law, I would observe that they were +intended to insure not merely the physical aptitude +for marriage, but also that degree of mental maturity +and education which befit a woman about +to enter on the duties of so serious a station. The +prophet makes it a special injunction that the religious +education of young women should be continued +to the time of their marriage. Taking this +view, the law-giver would naturally incline to delay +the period of marriage as long as possible, in order +to afford time for the development of the reasoning +faculties, and he would therefore be less precipitate +in his authorizations than nature in hers. But +there are some other proofs which I would adduce +against Mr. Prichard's grave arguments, which, +though of less weighty character, are not the less +conclusive, and will settle the question, I think, in +my favor.</p> + +<p>Poets, in their tales of love, are mainly solicitous +of exhibiting their heroines in the first bloom of +beauty, without caring much about their moral and +mental development. Accordingly, we find that +oriental poets have always made their lovers much +younger than the age prescribed by the Koran. +Zelika and Leila are not, surely, fourteen years +old. In India, this difference is still more striking. +Sacontala, in Europe, would be quite a small girl,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page348" id="page348">[Pg 348]</a></span> +a mere child. The spring-time of life for a Hindoo +female is from the age of nine to that of twelve. +In the Chinese romance, <cite>Yu-Kiao-li</cite>, the heroine is +sixteen; and her father is in great distress, and +laments pathetically that at so advanced an age +she should still be unmarried. The Roman writers, +following in the footsteps of their Greek preceptors, +took fifteen as the period of bloom of a +woman's life; our own authors for a long time adhered +to these models, but since the ideas of the +North have begun to exert their influence upon +our literature, the heroines of our novels are full-grown +young ladies of eighteen, and very often +more.<a name="FNanchor-146" id="FNanchor-146"></a><a href="#Footnote-146" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 146.">[146]</a></p> + +<p>But arguments of a more serious character are +by no means wanting. Besides what I said of the +precocity of the Jews in Germany, I may point +out the reverse as a peculiarity of the population +of many portions of Switzerland. Among them<span class="pagenum"><a name="page349" id="page349">[Pg 349]</a></span> +the physical development is so slow, that the age +of puberty is not always attained at twenty. The +Zingaris, or gypsies, display the same physical +precocity as their Hindoo ancestry, and, under the +austere sky of Russia and Moldavia, they preserve, +together with their ancient notions and habits, the +general aspect of face and form of the Pariahs.<a name="FNanchor-147" id="FNanchor-147"></a><a href="#Footnote-147" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 147.">[147]</a></p> + +<p>I do not, however, wish to attack Mr. Prichard +upon all points. There is one of his conclusions +which I readily adopt, viz.: "<em>that the difference of +climate occasions very little, if any, important diversity +as to the periods of life and the physical changes +to which the human constitution is subject</em>."<a name="FNanchor-148" id="FNanchor-148"></a><a href="#Footnote-148" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 148.">[148]</a> This +conclusion is very well founded, and I shall not<span class="pagenum"><a name="page350" id="page350">[Pg 350]</a></span> +seek to invalidate it; but it appears to me that it +contradicts a little the principles so ably advocated +by the learned physiologist and antiquary.</p> + +<p>The reader must have perceived that the discussion +turns solely upon permanency of type. If +it can be proved that the different branches of the +human family are each possessed of a certain individuality +which is independent of climate and the +lapse of ages, and can be effaced only by intermixture, +the question of origin is reduced to +little importance; for, in that case, the different +types are no less completely and irrevocably separated +than if their specific differences arose from +diversity of origin.</p> + +<p>That such is the case, we have already proved +by the testimony of Egyptian sculptures with regard +to the Arabs, and by our observations upon +the Jews and gypsies. Should any further proofs +be needed, we would mention that the paintings +in the temples and subterraneous buildings of the +Nile valley as indubitably attest the permanence +of the negro type. There we see the same crisped +hair, prognathous skull, and thick lips. The recent +discovery of the bas-reliefs of Khorsabad<a name="FNanchor-149" id="FNanchor-149"></a><a href="#Footnote-149" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 149.">[149]</a> has removed +beyond doubt the conclusions previously<span class="pagenum"><a name="page351" id="page351">[Pg 351]</a></span> +formed from the figured monuments of Persepolis, +viz.: that the present Assyrian nations are +physiologically identical with those who formerly +inhabited the same regions.</p> + +<p>If similar investigations could be made upon a +greater number of existing races, the results would +be the same. We have established the fact of permanence +of types in all cases where investigation +is possible, and the burden of proof, therefore, falls +upon the dissenting party.</p> + +<p>Their arguments, indeed, are in direct contradiction +to the most obvious facts. Thus they allege, +although the most ordinary observation shows the +contrary, that climate <em>has</em> produced alterations in +the Jewish type, inasmuch as many light-haired, +blue-eyed Jews are found in Germany. For this +argument to be of any weight in their position, +the advocates for unity of race must recognize climate +to be the sole, or at least principal, cause of +this phenomenon. But the adherents of that doctrine +elsewhere assert that the color of the eyes, +hair, and skin, no ways depends upon geographical +situation or the action of heat and cold.<a name="FNanchor-150" id="FNanchor-150"></a><a href="#Footnote-150" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 150.">[150]</a> As an<span class="pagenum"><a name="page352" id="page352">[Pg 352]</a></span> +evidence of this, they justly cite the Cinghalese, +who have blue eyes and light hair;<a name="FNanchor-151" id="FNanchor-151"></a><a href="#Footnote-151" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 151.">[151]</a> they even +observe among them a very considerable difference +of complexion, varying from a light brown to +black. Again, they admit that the Samoiedes and +Tungusians, though living on the borders of the +Frozen Ocean,<a name="FNanchor-152" id="FNanchor-152"></a><a href="#Footnote-152" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 152.">[152]</a> have an exceedingly swarthy complexion. +If, therefore, climate exerts no influence +upon the complexion and color of hair and eyes, +these marks must be considered as of no importance, +or as pertaining to race. We know that red +hair is not at all uncommon in the East, and at no +time has been so; it cannot, therefore, create much +surprise if we occasionally find it among the Jews<span class="pagenum"><a name="page353" id="page353">[Pg 353]</a></span> +of Germany. This fact cannot be adduced as evidence +either in favor of, or against, the permanence +of types.</p> + +<p>The advocates for unity are no less unfortunate +in their historical arguments. They furnish but +two; the Turks and the Magyars. The Asiatic +origin of the former is supposed to be established +beyond doubt, as well as of their intimate relationship +with the Finnic branches of the Laplanders +and Ostiacs. It follows from this that they must +originally have displayed the yellow skin, projecting +cheek bones, and low stature of the Mongolian +races. This point being settled, we are told to look +at the Turks of our day, who exhibit all the characteristics +of the European type. Types, then, +are not permanent, it is victoriously concluded, +because the Turks have undergone such a transformation. +"It is true," say the adherents of the +unity school, "that some pretend there had been +an admixture of Greek, Georgian, and Circassian +blood. But this admixture can have taken place +only to a very limited extent; all Turks are not +rich enough to buy their wives in the Caucasus, or +to have seraglios filled with white slaves; on the +other hand, the hatred which the Greeks cherish +for their conquerors, and the religious antipathies +of both nations, were not favorable to alliances<span class="pagenum"><a name="page354" id="page354">[Pg 354]</a></span> +between them, and consequently we see them—though +inhabiting the same country—as distinct +at this day as at the time of the conquest."<a name="FNanchor-153" id="FNanchor-153"></a><a href="#Footnote-153" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 153.">[153]</a></p> + +<p>These arguments are more specious than solid. +In the first place, I am greatly disposed to doubt +the Finnic origin of the Turkish race, because the +only evidence that has hitherto been produced in +favor of this supposition is affinity of language, +and I shall hereafter give my reasons for believing +this argument—when unsupported by any other—as +extremely unreliable, and open to doubt. But +even if we suppose the ancestors of the Turkish +nation to belong to the yellow race, it is easy to +show why their descendants have so widely departed +from that type.</p> + +<p>Centuries elapsed from the time of the first appearance +of the Turanian hordes to the day which +saw them the masters of the city of Constantine, +and during that period, multifarious events took +place; the fortune of the Western Turks has been +a checkered one. Alternately conquerors or conquered, +masters or slaves, they have become incorporated +with various nationalities. According to +the annalists,<a name="FNanchor-154" id="FNanchor-154"></a><a href="#Footnote-154" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 154.">[154]</a> their Orghuse ancestors, who descended +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page355" id="page355">[Pg 355]</a></span>from the Altai Mountains, inhabited in +Abraham's time the immense steppes of Upper +Asia which extend from Katai to the sea of Aral, +from Siberia to Thibet, and which, as has recently +been proved—were then the abode of numerous +Germanic tribes.<a name="FNanchor-155" id="FNanchor-155"></a><a href="#Footnote-155" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 155.">[155]</a> It is a singular circumstance, +that the first mentioning by Oriental writers of the +tribes of Turkestan is in celebrating them for +their beauty of face and form.<a name="FNanchor-156" id="FNanchor-156"></a><a href="#Footnote-156" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 156.">[156]</a> The most extravagant +hyperboles are lavished on them without +reserve, and as these writers had before their eyes +the handsomest types of the old world with which +to compare them, it is not probable that they +should have wasted their enthusiasm on creatures +so ugly and repulsive as are generally the races of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page356" id="page356">[Pg 356]</a></span> +pure Mongolian blood. Thus, notwithstanding +the dicta of philology, I think serious doubts +might be raised on that point.<a name="FNanchor-157" id="FNanchor-157"></a><a href="#Footnote-157" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 157.">[157]</a></p> + +<p>But I am willing to admit that the Turcomannic +tribes were, indeed, as is supposed, of Finnic origin. +Let us come down to a later period—the Mohammedan +era. We then find these tribes under various +denominations and in equally various situations, +dispersed over Persia and Asia Minor. The +Osmanli were not yet existing at that time, and +their predecessors, the Seldjuks, were already<span class="pagenum"><a name="page357" id="page357">[Pg 357]</a></span> +greatly mixed with the races that had embraced +Islamism. We see from the example of Ghaïased-din-Keikosrew, +who lived in 1237, that the Seljuk +princes were in the habit of frequently intermarrying +with Arab women. They must have gone +still further, for we find that Aseddin, the mother +of one of the Seljuk dynasties, was a Christian. +It is reasonable to suppose, that if the chiefs of +the nation, who everywhere are the most anxious +to preserve the purity of their genealogy, showed +themselves so devoid of prejudice, their subjects +were still less scrupulous on that point. Their +constant inroads in which they ranged over vast +districts, gave them ample opportunities for capturing +slaves, and there is every reason to believe +that already in the 13th century, the ancient +Orghuse branch was strongly tinctured with Shemitic +blood.</p> + +<p>To this branch belonged Osman, the son of Ortoghrul, +and father of the Osmanli. But few +families were collected around his tent. His army +was, at first, little better than a band of adventurers, +and the same expedient which swelled the +ranks of the first builders of Rome, increased the +number of adherents of this new Romulus of the +Steppes. Every desperate adventurer or fugitive, +of whatever nation, was welcome among them,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page358" id="page358">[Pg 358]</a></span> +and assured of protection. I shall suppose that +the downfall of the Seljuk empire brought to their +standards a great number of their own race. But +we have already said that this race was very much +mixed; and besides, this addition was insufficient, +as is proved by the fact that, from that time, the +Turks began to capture slaves for the avowed purpose +of repairing, by this means, the waste which +constant warfare made in their own ranks. In +the beginning of the 14th century, the sultan Orkhan, +following the advice of his vizier, Khalil +Tjendereli, surnamed the Black, instituted the +famous military body called Janissaries.<a name="FNanchor-158" id="FNanchor-158"></a><a href="#Footnote-158" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 158.">[158]</a> They +<span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden"><a name="page359" id="page359">[Pg 359]</a></span> +were composed entirely of Christian children captured +in Poland, Germany, Italy, or the Bizantine +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page360" id="page360">[Pg 360]</a></span>Empire, who were educated in the Mohammedan +religion and the practice of arms. Under +Mohammed IV., their number had increased to +140,000 men. Here, then, we find an influx of at +least half a million male individuals of European +blood in the course of four centuries.</p> + +<p>But the infusion of European blood was not +limited to this. The piracy which was carried on, +on so large a scale, in the whole basin of the Mediterranean, +had for one of its principal objects +the replenishment of the harems. Every victory +gained increased the number of believers in the +Prophet. A great number of the prisoners of war +abjured Christianity, and were henceforth counted +among the true believers. The localities adjacent<span class="pagenum"><a name="page361" id="page361">[Pg 361]</a></span> +to the field of battle supplied as many females as +the marauding victors could lay hold of. In some +cases, this sort of booty was so plentiful that it +became inconvenient to dispose of. Hammer relates<a name="FNanchor-159" id="FNanchor-159"></a><a href="#Footnote-159" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 159.">[159]</a> +that, on one occasion, the handsomest female +captive was bartered for <em>one boot</em>. When we consider +that the Turkish population of the whole +Ottoman empire never exceeded twelve millions, +it becomes apparent that the history of so amalgamated +a nation affords no arguments, either for or +against, the permanency of type. We will now +proceed to the second historic argument advanced +by the believers in unity.</p> + +<p>"The Magyars," they say, "are of Finnic origin, +nearly related to the Laplanders, Samoiedes, and +Esquimaux, all of which are people of low stature, +with big faces, projecting cheek-bones, and +yellowish or dirty brown complexion. Yet the +Magyars are tall, well formed, and have handsome +features. The Finns have always been feeble, unintelligent, +and oppressed; the Magyars, on the +contrary, occupy a distinguished rank among the +conquerors of the earth, and are noted for their +love of liberty and independence. As they are +so immensely superior, both physically and morally, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page362" id="page362">[Pg 362]</a></span>to all the collateral branches of the Finnic +stock, it follows that they have undergone an +enormous transformation."<a name="FNanchor-160" id="FNanchor-160"></a><a href="#Footnote-160" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 160.">[160]</a></p> + +<p>If such a transformation had ever taken place, +it would, indeed, be astonishing and inexplicable +even to those who ascribe the least stability to +types, for it must have occurred within the last +800 years, during which we know that the compatriots +of St. Stephen<a name="FNanchor-161" id="FNanchor-161"></a><a href="#Footnote-161" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 161.">[161]</a> mixed but little with surrounding +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page363" id="page363">[Pg 363]</a></span>nations. But the whole course of reasoning +is based upon false premises, for the Hungarians +are most assuredly not of Finnic origin. +Mr. A. De Gérando<a name="FNanchor-162" id="FNanchor-162"></a><a href="#Footnote-162" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 162.">[162]</a> has placed this fact beyond +doubt. He has proved, by the authority of Greek +and Arab historians, as well as Hungarian annalists +and by indisputable philological arguments, +that the Magyars are a fragment of that great inundation +of nations which swept over Europe +under the denomination of Huns. It will be objected +that this is merely giving the Hungarians +another parentage, but which connects them no +less intimately with the yellow race. Such is not +the case. The designation of Huns applies not +only to a nation, but is also a collective appellation +of a very heterogeneous mass. Among the +tribes which rallied around the standards of Attila +and his ancestors, there were some which have at all +times been distinguished from the rest by the term +<em>white Huns</em>. Among them the Germanic blood +predominated.<a name="FNanchor-163" id="FNanchor-163"></a><a href="#Footnote-163" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 163.">[163]</a> It is true, that the close contact<span class="pagenum"><a name="page364" id="page364">[Pg 364]</a></span> +with the yellow race somewhat adulterated the +breed; but this very fact is singularly exhibited +in the somewhat angular and bony facial conformation +of the Hungarians. I conclude, therefore, +that the Magyars were <em>white Huns</em>, and of Germanic +origin, though slightly mixed with the Mongolian +stock.</p> + +<p>The philological difficulty of their speaking a +non-Germanic dialect is not insurmountable. I +have already alluded to the Mongolian Scyths +who yet spoke an Arian tongue;<a name="FNanchor-164" id="FNanchor-164"></a><a href="#Footnote-164" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 164.">[164]</a> I might, moreover, +cite the Norman settlers in France who, not +many years after their conquest, exchanged their +Scandinavian dialect, in a great measure, for the +Celto-Latin of their subjects,<a name="FNanchor-165" id="FNanchor-165"></a><a href="#Footnote-165" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 165.">[165]</a> whence sprang that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page365" id="page365">[Pg 365]</a></span> +singular compound called Norman-French, which +the followers of William the Conqueror imported +into England, and which now forms an element of +the English language.</p> + +<p>There is, therefore, no reason to suppose that +the agency of climate and change of habits have +transformed a Laplander, or an Ostiak, or a +Tunguse, or a Permian, into a St. Stephen or a +Kossuth.</p> + +<p>Having thus, I think, refuted the only two historical +instances which the believers in unity of +species adduce, of a pretended alteration of type +by local circumstances and change of habits, and +having, moreover, instanced several cases where +these causes could produce no alteration; the fact +of permanency of type seems to me to be incontestably +established.<a name="FNanchor-166" id="FNanchor-166"></a><a href="#Footnote-166" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 166.">[166]</a> Thus, whichever side we<span class="pagenum"><a name="page366" id="page366">[Pg 366]</a></span> +take, whether we believe in original unity, or +original diversity, is immaterial; the several groups +of the human species are, at present, so perfectly +separated from each other, that no exterior influence +can efface their distinctive peculiarities. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page367" id="page367">[Pg 367]</a></span> +permanency of these differences, so long as there +is no intermixture, produces precisely the same +physical and moral results as if the groups were +so many distinct and separate creations.</p> + +<p>In conclusion, I shall repeat what I have said +above, that I have very serious doubts as to the +unity of origin. These doubts, however, I am compelled +to repress, because they are in contradiction +to a scientific fact which I cannot refute—the prolificness +of half-breeds; and secondly, what is of +much greater weight with me, they impugn a +religious interpretation sanctioned by the church.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page368" id="page368">[Pg 368]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h3> + +<p class="center">CLASSIFICATION OF RACES.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>Primary varieties—Test for recognizing them; not always reliable—Effects +of intermixture—Secondary varieties—Tertiary +varieties—Amalgamation of races in large cities—Relative +scale of beauty in various branches of the human family—Their +inequality in muscular strength and powers of endurance.</p></div> + + +<blockquote><p>[In supervising the publication of this work, I have +thought proper to omit, in this place, a portion of the +translation, because containing ideas and suggestions +which—though they might be novel to a French public—have +often been laid before English readers, and as +often proven untenable. This omission, however, embraces +no essential feature of the book, no link of the +chain of argumentation. It extends no further than +a digressional attempt of the author to account for the +diversities observable in the various branches of the +human family, by imagining the existence of cosmogonal +causes, long since effete, but operating for a time +soon after the creation of man, when the globe was +still in a nascent and chaotic state. It must be obvious +that all such speculations can never bridge over the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page369" id="page369">[Pg 369]</a></span> +wide abyss which separates <em>hypotheses</em> from <em>facts</em>. +They afford a boundless field for play to a fertile +imagination, but will never stand the test of criticism. +Even if we were to suppose that such causes had effected +diversities in the human family in primeval times, the +types thus produced must all have perished in the +flood, save that to which Noah and his family belonged. +If these writers, however, should be disposed to deny +the universality of the deluge, they would evidently +do greater violence to the language of Holy Writ, than +by at once supposing a plurality of origins for mankind.</p> + +<p>The legitimate field of human science is the investigation +of the laws <em>now</em> governing the material world. +Beyond this it may not go. Whatever is recognized as +not coming within the scope of action of these laws, +belongs not to its province. We have proved, and I +think it is generally admitted, that the actual varieties +of the human family are <em>permanent</em>; that there are no +causes <em>now in operation</em>, which can transform them. +The investigation of those causes, therefore, cannot +properly be said to belong to the province of human +science. In regard to their various systems of classification, +naturalists may be permitted to dispute about +unity or plurality of species, because the use of the +word species is more or less arbitrary; it is an expedient +to secure a convenient arrangement. But none, +I hope, presume ever to be able to fathom the mysteries +of Creative Power—to challenge the fiat of the Almighty, +and inquire into his <em>means</em>.—H.]</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the investigation of the moral and intellectual +diversities of races, there is no difficulty so +great as an accurate classification. I am disposed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page370" id="page370">[Pg 370]</a></span> +to think a separation into three great groups sufficient +for all practical purposes. These groups I +shall call primary varieties, not in the sense of +distinct creations, but as offering obvious and well-defined +distinguishing characteristics. I would +designate them respectively by the terms white, +yellow, and black. I am aware of the inaccuracy +of these appellations, because the complexion is +not always the distinctive feature of these groups: +other and more important physiological traits must +be taken into consideration. But as I have not +the right to invent new names, and am, therefore, +compelled to select among those already in +use, I have chosen these because, though by no +means correct, they seemed preferable to others +borrowed from geography or history, and not so +apt as the latter to add to the confusion which +already sufficiently perplexes the investigator of +this subject. To obviate any misconception here +and hereafter, I wish it to be distinctly understood +that by "white" races I mean those usually comprised +under the name of Caucasian, Shemitic, +Japhetic; by "black," the Hamitic, African, etc.; +by "yellow," the Altaic, Mongolian, Finnic, and +Tartar. These I consider to be the three categories +under which all races of the human family +can be placed. I shall hereafter explain my reasons<span class="pagenum"><a name="page371" id="page371">[Pg 371]</a></span> +for not recognizing the American Indians as a +separate variety, and for classing them among the +yellow races.<a name="FNanchor-167" id="FNanchor-167"></a><a href="#Footnote-167" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 167.">[167]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page372" id="page372">[Pg 372]</a></span>It is obvious that each of these groups comprises +races very dissimilar among themselves, +each of which, besides the general characteristics<span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden"><a name="page373" id="page373">[Pg 373]</a></span> +belonging to the whole group, possesses others +peculiar to itself. Thus, in the group of black +races we find marked distinctions: the tribes with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page374" id="page374">[Pg 374]</a></span> +prognathous skull and woolly hair, the low-caste +Hindoos of Kamaoun and of Dekhan, the Pelagian +negroes of Polynesia, etc. In the yellow +group, the Tungusians, Mongols, Chinese, etc. +There is every reason to believe that these sub-varieties +are coeval; that is, the same causes which +produced one, produced at the same time all the +others.</p> + +<p>It is, moreover, extremely difficult to determine +the typical character of each variety. In the +white, and also in the yellow group, the mixture +of the sub-varieties is so great, that it is impossible +to fix upon the type. In the black group, +the type is perhaps discernible; at least, it is preserved +in its greatest purity.</p> + +<p>To ascertain the relative purity or mixture of a +race, a criterion has been adopted by many, who +consider it infallible: this is resemblance of face,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page375" id="page375">[Pg 375]</a></span> +form, constitution, etc. It is supposed that the +purer a race has preserved itself, the greater must +be the exterior resemblances of all the individuals +composing it. On the contrary, considerable and +varied intermixtures would produce an infinite +diversity of appearance among individuals. This +fact is incontestable, and of great value in ethnological +science, but I do not think it quite so reliable +as some suppose.</p> + +<p>Intermixture of races does, indeed, produce at +first individual dissemblances, for few individuals +belong in precisely the same degree to either of +the races composing the mixture. But suppose +that, in course of time, the fusion has become complete—that +every individual member of the mixed +race had precisely the same proportion of mixed +blood as every other—he could not then differ +greatly from his neighbor. The whole mass, in +that case, must present the same general homogeneity +as a pure race. The perfect amalgamation +of two races of the same group would, therefore, +produce a new type, presenting a fictitious appearance +of purity, and reproducing itself in succeeding +generations.</p> + +<p>I imagine it possible, therefore, that a "secondary" +type may in time assume all the characteristics +of a "primary" one, viz: resemblance of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page376" id="page376">[Pg 376]</a></span> +individuals composing it. The lapse of time to +produce this complete fusion would necessarily be +commensurate to the original diversity of the constituent +elements. Where two races belonging to +different groups combine, such a complete fusion +would probably never be possible. I can illustrate +this by reference to individuals. Parents of widely +different nations generally have children but little +resembling each other—some apparently partaking +more of the father's type, some more of the mother's. +But if the parents are both of the same, +or at least of homogeneous stocks, their offspring +exhibits little or no variety; and though the children +might resemble neither of the parents, they +would be apt to resemble one another.</p> + +<p>To distinguish the varieties produced by a fusion +of proximate races from those which are the effect +of intermixture between races belonging to different +groups, I shall call the latter <em>tertiary</em> varieties. +Thus the woolly-headed negro and the Pelagian +are both "primary" varieties belonging to the same +group; their offspring I would call a "secondary" +variety; but the hymen of either of them with a +race belonging to the white or yellow groups, +would produce a "tertiary" variety. To this last, +then, belong the mulatto, or cross between white +and black, and the Polynesian, who is a cross between +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page377" id="page377">[Pg 377]</a></span>the black and the yellow.<a name="FNanchor-168" id="FNanchor-168"></a><a href="#Footnote-168" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 168.">[168]</a> Half-breeds of +this kind display, in various proportions and degrees, +the special characteristics of both the ancestral +races. But a complete fusion, as in the case +of branches of the same group, probably never +results from the union of two widely dissimilar +races, or, at least, would require an incommensurable +lapse of time.</p> + +<p>If a tertiary type is again modified by intermixture +with another, as is the case in a cross between +a mulatto and a Mongolian, or between a Polynesian +and a European, the ethnical mixture is too +great to permit us, in the present state of the +science, to arrive at any general conclusions. It +appears that every additional intermixture increases +the difficulty of complete fusion. In a population +composed of a great number of dissimilar ethnical +elements, it would require countless ages for a +thorough amalgamation; that is to say, so complete +a mixture that each individual would have +precisely the kind and relative proportion of mixed +blood as every other. It follows, therefore, that,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page378" id="page378">[Pg 378]</a></span> +in a population so constituted, there is an infinite +diversity of form and features among individuals, +some pertaining more to one type than another. +In other words, there being no equilibrium between +the various types, they crop out here and +there without any apparent reason.</p> + +<p>We find this spectacle among the great civilized +nations of Europe, especially in their capitals and +seaports. In these great vortexes of humanity, every +possible variety of our species has been absorbed. +Negro, Chinese, Tartar, Hottentot, Indian, Malay, +and all the minor varieties produced by their mixture, +have contributed their contingent to the population +of our large cities. Since the Roman domination, +this amalgamation has continually increased, +and is still increasing in proportion as our inventions +bring in closer proximity the various portions +of the globe. It affects all classes to some extent, +but more especially the lowest. Among them you +may see every type of the human family more or +less represented. In London, Paris, Cadiz, Constantinople, +in any of the greater marts and thoroughfares +of the world, the lower strata of the +<em>native</em> population exhibit every possible variety, +from the prognathous skull to the pyramidal: you +shall find one man with hair as crisp as a negro's; +another, with the eyes of an ancient German, or<span class="pagenum"><a name="page379" id="page379">[Pg 379]</a></span> +the oblique ones of a Chinese; a third, with a +thoroughly Shemitic countenance; yet all three +may be close relations, and would be greatly surprised +were they told that any but the purest white +blood flows in their veins. In these vast gathering +places of humanity, if you could take the first +comer—a native of the place—and ascend his +genealogical tree to any height, you would probably +be amazed at the strange ancestry at the top.</p> + +<p>It may now be asked whether, for all the various +races of which I have spoken, there is but one +standard of beauty, or whether each has one of its +own. Helvetius, in his <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">De l'Esprit</cite>, maintains that +the idea of beauty is purely conventional and variable. +This assertion found many advocates in +its time, but it is at present superseded by the +more philosophical theory that the conception of +the beautiful is an absolute and invariable idea, +and can never have a merely optional application. +Believing the latter view to be correct, I do not +hesitate to compare the various races of man in +point of beauty, and to establish a regular scale of +gradation. Thus, if we compare the various races, +from the ungainly appearance of the Pelagian or +Pecherai up to the noble proportions of a Charlemagne, +the expressive regularity of features of a +Napoleon, or the majestic countenance of a Louis<span class="pagenum"><a name="page380" id="page380">[Pg 380]</a></span> +XIV., we shall find in the lowest on the scale a +sort of rudimentary development of the beauty +which attracts us in the highest; and in proportion +to the perfectness of that development, the races +rise in the scale of beauty.<a name="FNanchor-169" id="FNanchor-169"></a><a href="#Footnote-169" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 169.">[169]</a> Taking the white<span class="pagenum"><a name="page381" id="page381">[Pg 381]</a></span> +race as the standard of beauty, we perceive all +the others more or less receding from that model. +There is, then, an inequality in point of beauty +among the various races of men, and this inequality +is permanent and indelible.<a name="FNanchor-170" id="FNanchor-170"></a><a href="#Footnote-170" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 170.">[170]</a></p> + +<p>The next question to be decided is, whether +there is also an inequality in point of physical +strength. It cannot be denied that the American +Indians and the Hindoos are greatly inferior to us +in this respect. Of the Australians, the same may +safely be asserted. Even the negroes possess less +muscular vigor.<a name="FNanchor-171" id="FNanchor-171"></a><a href="#Footnote-171" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 171.">[171]</a> It is necessary, however, to distinguish +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page382" id="page382">[Pg 382]</a></span>between purely muscular force—that which +exerts itself suddenly at a given moment—and the +force of resistance or capacity for endurance. The +degree of the former is measured by its intensity, +that of the other by its duration. Of the two, the +latter is the typical—the standard by which to +judge of the capabilities of races. Great muscular +strength is found among races notoriously weak. +Among the lowest of the negro tribes, for instance, +it would not be difficult to find individuals that +could match an experienced European wrestler or +English boxer. This is equally true of the Lascars +and Malays. But we must take the masses, and +judge according to the amount of long-continued, +persevering toil and fatigue they are capable of. +In this respect, the white races are undoubtedly +entitled to pre-eminence.</p> + +<p>But there are differences, again, among the white +races, both in beauty and in strength, which even +the extensive ethnical mixture, that European nations +present, has not entirely obliterated. The +Italians are handsomer than the French and the +Spaniards, and still more so than the Swiss and +Germans. The English also present a high degree +of corporeal beauty; the Sclavonian nations a +comparatively humble one.</p> + +<p>In muscular power, the English rank far above<span class="pagenum"><a name="page383" id="page383">[Pg 383]</a></span> +all other European nations; but the French and +Spaniards are greatly superior in power of endurance: +they suffer less from fatigue, from privations, +and the rigors and changes of climate. This +question has been settled beyond dispute by the +fatal campaign in Russia. While the Germans, +and other troops from the North, who yet were +accustomed to severe cold, were almost totally +annihilated, the French regiments, though paying +fearfully dear for their retreat, nevertheless saved +the greatest number of men. Some have attempted +to explain this by a supposed superiority on the +part of the French in martial education and military +spirit. But the German officers had certainly +as high a conception of a soldier's duty, as elevated +a sentiment of honor, as our soldiers; yet +they perished in incredibly greater numbers. I +think it can hardly be disputed that the masses of +the population of France possess a superiority in +certain physical qualities, which enables them to +defy with greater impunity than most other nations +the freezing snows of Russia and the burning +sands of Egypt.</p> + + + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page384" id="page384">[Pg 384]</a></span></p> + +<h4><a name="C_NOTE" id="C_NOTE"></a>NOTE TO THE PRECEDING CHAPTER.</h4> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>The position and treatment of woman among the various races +of men a proof of their moral and intellectual diversity.</p></div> + + +<p>The reader will pardon me if to Mr. Gobineau's scale +of gradation in point of beauty and physical strength, +I add another as accurate, I think, if not more so, and +certainly as interesting. I allude to the manner in which +the weaker sex is regarded and treated among the various +races of men.</p> + +<p>In the words of Van Amringe, "from the brutal New +Hollander, who secures his wife by knocking her down +with a club and dragging the prize to his cave, to the +polished European, who, fearfully, but respectfully and +assiduously, spends a probation of months or years for +his better half, the ascent may be traced with unfailing +precision and accuracy." The same writer correctly +argues that if any principle could be inferred from analogy +to animals, it would certainly be a uniform treatment +of the female sex among all races of man; for animals +are remarkably uniform in the relations of the male and +female in the same species. Yet among some races of +men <em>polygamy has always prevailed, among others never</em>. +Would not any naturalist consider as distinct species +any animals of the same genus so distinguished? This +subject has not yet met with due attention at the hands of +ethnologists. "When we hear of a race of men," says<span class="pagenum"><a name="page385" id="page385">[Pg 385]</a></span> +the same author, "being subjected to the tyranny of +another race, either by personal bondage or the more +easy condition of tribute, our sympathies are enlisted +in their favor, and our constant good wishes, if not our +efforts, accompany them. But when we hear of hundreds +of millions of the truest and most tender-hearted +of human creatures being trodden down and trampled +upon in everything that is dear to the human heart, our +sympathies, which are so freely expended on slighter +occasions or imaginary evils, are scarcely awakened to +their crushing woes."</p> + +<p>With the writer from whom I have already made copious +extracts, I believe that the <em>moral and intellectual +diversity</em> of the races of men cannot be thoroughly and +accurately investigated without taking into consideration +the relations which most influence individual as +well as national progress and development, and which +result from the position occupied by woman towards +man. This truth has not escaped former investigators—it +would be singular if it had—but they have contented +themselves with asserting that the condition of +the female sex was indicative of the degree of civilization. +Had they said, of the intrinsic worth of various +races, I should cheerfully assent. But the elevation or +degradation of woman in the social scale is generally +regarded as a <em>result</em>, not a <em>cause</em>. It is said that all +barbarians treat their women as slaves; but, as they +progress in civilization, woman gradually rises to her +legitimate rank.</p> + +<p>For the sake of the argument, I shall assume that +all now civilized nations at first treated their women +as the actual barbarians treat theirs. That this is +not so, I hope to place beyond doubt; but, assuming it<span class="pagenum"><a name="page386" id="page386">[Pg 386]</a></span> +to be the case, might not the fact that some left off that +treatment, while others did not, be adduced as a proof +of the inequality of races? "The law of the relation of +the sexes," says Van Amringe, "is more deeply engraven +upon human nature than any other; because, whatever +theories may be adopted in regard to the origin of society, +languages, etc., no doubt can be entertained that +the <em>influence of woman must have been anterior to any +improvements of the original condition of man</em>. Consequently +it was antecedent and superior to education +and government. That these relations were powerfully +instrumental in the origin of development, to give it a +direction and character according to the natures operating +and operated upon, cannot be doubted by any +one who has paid the slightest attention to domestic +influences, from and under which education, customs, +and government commenced."</p> + +<p>But I totally deny that all races, in their first state +of development, treated their women equally. There +is not only no historical testimony to prove that <em>any</em> of +the white races were ever in such a state of barbarity +and in such moral debasement as most of the dark races +are to this day, and have always been, but there is positive +evidence to show that our barbarous ancestors assigned +to woman the same position we assign her now: +she was the companion, and not the slave, of man. I +have already alluded to this in a previous note on the +Teutonic races; I cannot, however, but revert to it +again.</p> + +<p>As I have not space for a lengthy discussion, I shall +mention but one fact, which I think conclusive, and +which rests upon incontrovertible historical testimony. +"To a German mind," says Tacitus (Murphy's transl.,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page387" id="page387">[Pg 387]</a></span> +vol. vii. 8), "the idea of a woman led into captivity is +insupportable. In consequence of this prevailing sentiment, +the states which deliver as hostages the daughters +of illustrious families are bound by the most effectual +obligations." Did this assertion rest on the authority +of Tacitus only, it might perhaps be called in question. +It might be said that the illustrious Roman had drawn +an ideal picture, etc. But Cæsar dealt with realities, +not idealities; he was a shrewd, practical statesman, +and an able general; yet Cæsar <em>did</em> take females as +hostages from the German tribes, in preference to men. +Suppose Cæsar had made war against the King of +Ashantee, and taken away some of his three thousand +three hundred and thirty-three wives, the mystical number +being thus forcibly disturbed, might have alarmed +the nation, whose welfare is supposed to depend on it; +but the misfortune would soon have been remedied.</p> + +<p>But it is possible to demonstrate not only that all +races did not treat their women equally in their first +stage of development, but also that no race which assigned +to woman in the beginning an inferior position +ever raised her from it in any subsequent stage of development. +I select the Chinese for illustration, because +they furnish us with an example of a long-continued +and regular intellectual progress,<a name="FNanchor-172" id="FNanchor-172"></a><a href="#Footnote-172" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 172.">[172]</a> which yet never resulted +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page388" id="page388">[Pg 388]</a></span>in an alteration of woman's position in the social +structure. The decadent Chinese of our day look upon +the female half of their nation as did the rapidly advancing +Chinese of the seventh and eighth centuries; +and the latter in precisely the same manner as their +barbarous ancestors, the subjects of the Emperor <em>Fou</em>, +more than twenty centuries before.</p> + +<p>I repeat it, the relations of the sexes, in various +races, are equally dissimilar in every stage of development. +The state of society may change, the tendency +of a race never. Faculties may be developed, but +never lost.</p> + +<p>As the mothers and wives of our Teutonic ancestors +were near the battle-field, to administer refreshments +to the wearied combatants, to stanch the bleeding of +their wounds, and to inspire with renewed courage the +despairing, so, in modern times, matrons and maidens +of the highest rank—worthy daughters of a heroic<span class="pagenum"><a name="page389" id="page389">[Pg 389]</a></span> ancestry—have +been found by thousands ready to sacrifice +the comforts and quiet of home for the horrors of a +hospital.<a name="FNanchor-173" id="FNanchor-173"></a><a href="#Footnote-173" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 173.">[173]</a> As the rude warrior of a former age won his +beloved by deeds of valor, so, to his civilized descendant, +the hand of his mistress is the prize and reward of +exertion. The wives and mothers of the ancient Germans +and Celts were the counsellors of their sons and +husbands in the most important affairs; our wives and +mothers are our advisers in our more peaceful pursuits.</p> + +<p>But the Arab, when he had arrived at the culminating +point of his civilization, and when he had become the +teacher of our forefathers of the Middle Ages in science +and the arts, looked upon his many wives in the same +light as his roaming brother in the desert had done +before, and does now. I do not ask of all these races +that they should assign to their women the same rank +that we do. If intellectual progress and social development +among them showed the slightest tendency to +produce ultimately an alteration in woman's position +towards her lord, I might be content to submit to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page390" id="page390">[Pg 390]</a></span> +opinion of those who regard that position as the effect +of such a progress and such a development. But I +cannot, in the history of those races, perceive the slightest +indication of such a result, and all my observations +lead me to the conclusion that the relations between the +sexes are a cause, and not an effect.</p> + +<p>The character of the women of different races differs +in essential points. What a vast difference, for instance, +between the females of the rude crusaders who took +possession of Constantinople, and the more civilized +Byzantine Greeks whom they so easily conquered; between +the heroic matron of barbarous Germany and the +highly civilized Chinese lady! These differences cannot +be entirely the effect of education, else we are forced +to consider the female sex as mere automatons. They +must be the result of diversity of character. And why +not, in the investigation of the moral and intellectual +diversity of races and the natural history of man, take +into consideration the peculiarities that characterize the +female portion of each race, a portion—I am forced to +make this trite observation, because so many investigators +seem to forget it—which comprises at least one-half +of the individuals to be described?—H.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page391" id="page391">[Pg 391]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h3> + +<p class="center">PERFECTIBILITY OF MAN.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>Imperfect notions of the capability of savage tribes—Parallel +between our civilization and those that preceded it—Our +modern political theories no novelty—The political parties +of Rome—Peace societies—The art of printing a means, the +results of which depend on its use—What constitutes a +"living" civilization—Limits of the sphere of intellectual +acquisitions.</p></div> + + +<p>To understand perfectly the differences existing +among races, in regard to their intellectual capacity, +it is necessary to ascertain the lowest degree of +stupidity that humanity is capable of. The inferior +branches of the human family have hitherto +been represented, by a majority of scientific observers, +as considerably more abased than they are +in reality. The first accounts of a tribe of savages +almost always depict them in exaggerated colors +of the darkest cast, and impute to them such utter +intellectual and reasoning incapacity, that they +seem to sink to the level of the monkey, and below<span class="pagenum"><a name="page392" id="page392">[Pg 392]</a></span> +that of the elephant. There are, indeed, some contrasts. +Let a navigator be well received in some +island—let him succeed in persuading a few of the +natives to work, however little, with the sailors, +and praises are lavished upon the fortunate tribe: +they are declared susceptible of every improvement; +and perhaps the eulogist will go so far as +to assert that he has found among them minds of +a very superior order.</p> + +<p>To both these judgments we must object—the +one being too favorable, the other too severe. Because +some natives of Tahiti assisted in repairing +a whaler, or some inhabitant of Tonga Tabou exhibited +good feelings towards the white strangers +who landed on his isle, it does not follow that +either are capable of receiving our civilization, or +of being raised to a level with us. Nor are we +warranted in classing among brutes the poor naturals +of a newly-discovered coast, who greet their +first visitors with a shower of stones and arrows, +or who are found making a dainty repast on raw +lizards and clods of clay. Such a meal does not, +indeed, indicate a very superior intelligence, or +very refined manners. But even in the most repulsive +cannibal there lies latent a spark of the +divine flame, and reason may be awakened to a +certain extent. There are no tribes so very degraded +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page393" id="page393">[Pg 393]</a></span>that they do not reason in some degree, +whether correctly or otherwise, upon the things +which surround them. This ray of human intelligence, +however faint it may be, is what distinguishes +the most degraded savage from the most +intelligent brute, and capacitates him for receiving +the teachings of religion.</p> + +<p>But are these mental faculties, which every individual +of our species possesses, susceptible of +indefinite development? Have all men the same +capacity for intellectual progress? In other words, +can cultivation raise all the different races to the +same intellectual standard? and are no limits imposed +to the perfectibility of our species? My +answer to these questions is, that all races are +capable of improvement, but all cannot attain the +same degree of perfection, and even the most +favored cannot exceed a certain limit.</p> + +<p>The idea of infinite perfection has gained many +partisans in our times, because we, like all who +came before us, pride ourselves upon possessing +advantages and points of superiority unknown to +our predecessors. I have already spoken of the +distinguishing features of our civilization, but willingly +revert to this subject again.</p> + +<p>It may be said, that in all the departments of +science we possess clearer and more correct notions; +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page394" id="page394">[Pg 394]</a></span>that, upon the whole, our manners are more +polished, and our code of morals is preferable to +that of the ancients. It is further asserted, as the +principal proof of our superiority, that we have +better defined, juster and more tolerant ideas with +regard to political liberty. Sanguine theorists are +not wanting, who pretend that our discoveries in +political science and our enlightened views of the +rights of man will ultimately lead us to that universal +happiness and harmony which the ancients +in vain sought in the fabled garden of Hesperides.</p> + +<p>These lofty pretensions will hardly bear the test +of severe historical criticism.</p> + +<p>If we surpass preceding generations in scientific +knowledge, it is because we have added +our share to the discoveries which they bequeathed +to us. We are their heirs, their pupils, their continuators, +just as future generations will be ours. +We achieve great results by the application of the +power of steam; we have solved many great problems +in mechanics, and pressed the elements as +submissive slaves into our service. But do these +successes bring us any nearer to omniscience. At +most, they may enable us ultimately to fathom all +the secrets of the material world. And when we +shall have achieved that grand conquest, for which +so much requires still to be done that is not yet<span class="pagenum"><a name="page395" id="page395">[Pg 395]</a></span> +commenced, nor even anticipated; have we advanced +a single step beyond the simple exposition +of the laws which govern the material world? +We may have learned to direct our course through +the air, to approach the limits of the respirable +atmosphere; we may discover and elucidate several +interesting astronomical problems; we may +have greater powers for controlling nature and +compelling her to minister to our wants, but can +all this knowledge make us better, happier beings? +Suppose we had counted all the planetary systems +and measured the immense regions of space, would +we know more of the grand mystery of existence +than those that came before us? Would this add +one new faculty to the human mind, or ennoble +human nature by the eradication of one bad passion?</p> + +<p>Admitting that we are more enlightened upon +some subjects, in how many other respects are we +inferior to our more remote ancestors? Can it be +doubted, for instance, that in Abraham's times much +more was known of primordial traditions than the +dubious beams which have come down to us? +How many discoveries which we owe to mere accident, +or which are the fruits of painful efforts, +were the lost possessions of remote ages? How +many more are not yet restored? What is there<span class="pagenum"><a name="page396" id="page396">[Pg 396]</a></span> +in the most splendid of our works that can compare +with those wonders by which Egypt, India, +Greece, and America still attest the grandeur and +magnificence of so many edifices which the weight +of centuries, much more than the impotent ravages +of man, has caused to disappear? What are +our works of art by the side of those of Athens; +our thinkers by the side of those of Alexandria +or India; our poets by the side of a Valmiki, +Kalidasa, Homer, Pindar?</p> + +<p>The truth is, we pursue a different direction +from that of the human societies whose civilization +preceded ours. We apply our mind to different +purposes and different investigations; but +while we clear and cultivate new lands, we are +compelled to neglect and abandon to sterility those +to which they devoted their attention. What we +gain in one direction we lose in another. We +cannot call ourselves superior to the ancients, unless +we had preserved at least the principal acquisitions +of preceding ages in all their integrity, and +had succeeded in establishing by the side of these, +the great results which they as well as we sought +after. Our sciences and arts superadded to theirs +have not enabled us to advance one step nearer +the solution of the great problems of existence, +the mysteries of life and death. "I seek, but find<span class="pagenum"><a name="page397" id="page397">[Pg 397]</a></span> +not," has always been, will ever be, the humiliating +confession of science when endeavoring to +penetrate into the secrets concealed by the veil +that it is not given to mortal to lift. In criticism<a name="FNanchor-174" id="FNanchor-174"></a><a href="#Footnote-174" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 174.">[174]</a> +we are, undoubtedly, much in advance of our predecessors; +but criticism implies classification, not +acquisition.</p> + +<p>Nor can we justly pride ourselves upon any +superiority in regard to political ideas. Political +and social theories were as rife in Athens after the +age of Pericles as they are in our days. To be +convinced of this, it is necessary only to study +Aristophanes, whose comedies Plato recommends +to the perusal of whoever wishes to become acquainted +with the public morals of the city of +Minerva. It has been pretended that our present +structure of society, and that of the ancients, admit +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page398" id="page398">[Pg 398]</a></span>of no comparison, owing to the institution of +slavery which formed an element of the latter. +But the only real difference is that demagogism +had then an even more fertile soil in which to +strike root. The slaves of those days find their +precise counterpart in our working classes and +proletarians.<a name="FNanchor-175" id="FNanchor-175"></a><a href="#Footnote-175" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 175.">[175]</a> The Athenian people propitiating +their servile class after the battle of Arginuses, +might be taken for a picture of the nineteenth +century.</p> + +<p>Look at Rome. Open Cicero's letters. What a +specimen of the moderate Tory that great Roman +orator was; what a similarity between his republic +and our constitutional bodies politic, with regard +to the language of parties and parliamentary debates! +There, too, the background of the picture +was occupied by degraded masses of a servile and +prædial population, always eager for change, and +ready to rise in actual rebellion.</p> + +<p>Let us leave those dregs of the population, +whose civil existence the law ignored, and who +counted in politics but as the formidable tool of +designing individuals of free birth. But does not +the free population of Rome afford a perfect analogue +to a modern body politic? There is the mob<span class="pagenum"><a name="page399" id="page399">[Pg 399]</a></span> +crying for bread, greedy of shows, flattery, gratuitous +distributions, and amusements; the middle +classes (<em>bourgeoisie</em>) monopolizing and dividing +among themselves the public offices; the hereditary +aristocracy, continually assailed at all points, +continually losing ground, until driven in mere +self-defence to abjure all superior claims and stipulate +for equal rights to all. Are not these perfect +resemblances?</p> + +<p>Among the boundless variety of opinions that +make themselves heard in our day, there is not +one that had not advocates in Rome. I alluded a +while ago to the letters written from the villa of +Tusculum; they express the sentiments of the +Roman conservative <em>Progressist</em> party. By the side +of Sylla, Pompey and Cicero were Radicals.<a name="FNanchor-176" id="FNanchor-176"></a><a href="#Footnote-176" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 176.">[176]</a> Their +notions were not sufficiently radical for Cæsar; +too much so for Cato. At a later period we find +in Pliny the younger a mild royalist, a friend of +quiet, even at some cost. Apprehensive of too +much liberty, yet jealous of power too absolute; +very practical in his views, caring but little for +the poetical splendor of the age of the Fabii, he preferred +the more prosaic administration of Trajan.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page400" id="page400">[Pg 400]</a></span> +There were others not of his opinion, good people +who feared an insurrection headed by some new +Spartacus, and who, therefore, thought that the +Emperor could not hold the reins too tight. +Then there were others, from the provinces, +who obstreperously demanded and obtained what +would now be called "constitutional guaranties." +Again, there were the socialists, and their views +found no less an expounder than the Gallic Cæsar, +C. Junius Posthumus, who exclaims: "Dives et +pauper, inimici," the rich and the poor are enemies +born.</p> + +<p>Every man who had any pretensions to participate +in the lights of the day, declaimed on the +absolute equality of all men, their "inalienable +rights," the manifest necessity and ultimate universality +of the Greco-Latin civilization, its superiority, +its mildness, its future progress, much greater +even than that actually made, and above all its +perpetuity. Nor were those ideas merely the +pride and consolation of the pagans; they were +the firm hopes and expectations of the earliest +and most illustrious Fathers of the Church, whose +sentiments found so eloquent an interpreter in +Tertullian.</p> + +<p class="tbreak">And as a last touch, to complete the picture, let<span class="pagenum"><a name="page401" id="page401">[Pg 401]</a></span> +us not forget those people who, then as now, formed +the most numerous of all parties: those that +belonged to none—people who are too weak-minded, +or indifferent, or apprehensive, or disgusted, +to lay hold of a truth, from among the +midst of contradictory theories that float around +them—people who are content with order when +it exists, submit passively in times of disorder +and confusion; who admire the increase of conveniences +and comforts of life unknown to their +ancestors, and who, without thinking further, +centre their hope in the future and pride in the +present, in the reflection: "What wonderful facilities +we enjoy now-a-days."</p> + +<p>There would be some reason for believing in an +improvement in political science, if we had invented +some governmental machinery which had +hitherto been unknown, or at least never carried +into practice. This glory we cannot arrogate to +ourselves. Limited monarchies were known in +every age. There are even some very curious +examples of this form of government found among +certain Indian tribes who, nevertheless, have remained +savages. Democratic and aristocratic republics of +every form, and balanced in the most varied manner, +flourished in the new world as well as the old. +Tlascala is as complete a model of this kind as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page402" id="page402">[Pg 402]</a></span> +Athens, Sparta, or Mecca before Mohammed's times. +And even supposing that we have applied to governmental +science some secondary principle of +our own invention, does this justify us in our exaggerated +pretension to unlimited perfectibility? +Let us rather be modest, and say with the wisest +of kings: "<em lang="la" xml:lang="la">Nil novi sub sole.</em>"<a name="FNanchor-177" id="FNanchor-177"></a><a href="#Footnote-177" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 177.">[177]</a></p> + +<p>It is said that our manners are milder than +those of the other great human societies; this assertion +also is very open to criticism. There are +some philanthropists who would induce nations no +longer to resort to armies in settling their quarrels. +The idea is borrowed from Seneca. Some of the +Eastern sages professed the same principles in this +respect as the Moravian Brethren. But assuming +that the members of the Peace Congress succeed +in disgusting Europe with the turmoil and miseries +of warfare, they would still have the difficult +task left of forever transforming the human passions. +Neither Seneca nor the Eastern sages have +been able to accomplish this, and it may reasonably +be doubted whether this grand achievement<span class="pagenum"><a name="page403" id="page403">[Pg 403]</a></span> +is reserved for our generation. We possess pure +and exalted principles, I admit, but are they carried +into practice? Look at our fields, the streets +of our cities—the bloody traces of contests as +fierce as any recorded in history are scarcely yet +effaced. Never since the beginning of our civilization +has there been an interval of peace of fifty +years, and we are, in this respect, far behind +ancient Italy, which, under the Romans, once enjoyed +two centuries of perfect tranquillity. But +even so long a repose would not warrant us in +concluding that the temple of Janus was thenceforth +to be forever closed.</p> + +<p>The state of our civilization does not, therefore, +prove the unlimited perfectibility of man. If he +have learned many things, he has forgotten others. +He has not added another to his senses; his soul +is not enriched by one new faculty. I cannot too +much insist upon the great though sad truth, that +whatever we gain in one direction is counterbalanced +by some loss in another; that, limited as +is our intellectual domain, we are doomed never to +possess its whole extent at once. Were it not for +this fatal law, we might imagine that at some period, +however distant, man, finding himself in +possession of the experience of successive ages, +and having acquired all that it is in his power to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page404" id="page404">[Pg 404]</a></span> +acquire, would have learned at last to apply his +acquisitions to his welfare—to live without battling +against his kind, and against misery; to enjoy a +state, if not of unalloyed happiness, at least of +abundance and peace.</p> + +<p>But even so limited a felicity is not promised +us here below, for in proportion as man learns he +unlearns; whatever he acquires, is at the cost of +some previous acquisition; whatever he possesses +he is always in danger of losing.</p> + +<p>We flatter ourselves with the belief that our +civilization is imperishable, because we possess the +art of printing, gunpowder, the steam engine, &c. +These are valuable means to accomplish great +results, but the accomplishment depends on their +use.</p> + +<p>The art of printing is known to many other +nations beside ourselves, and is as extensively used +by them as by us.<a name="FNanchor-178" id="FNanchor-178"></a><a href="#Footnote-178" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 178.">[178]</a> Let us see its fruits. In Tonquin, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page405" id="page405">[Pg 405]</a></span>Anam, Japan, books are plentiful, much +cheaper than with us—so cheap that they are +within the reach of even the poorest—and even +the poorest read them. How is it, then, that these +people are so enervated, so degraded, so sunk in +sloth and vice<a name="FNanchor-179" id="FNanchor-179"></a><a href="#Footnote-179" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 179.">[179]</a>—so near that stage in which even +civilized man, having frittered away his physical +and mental powers, may sink infinitely below the +rude barbarian, who, at the first convenient opportunity, +becomes his master? Whence this result? +Precisely because the art of printing is a means, +and not an agent. So long as it is used to diffuse +sound, sterling ideas, to afford wholesome and refreshing +nutriment to vigorous minds, a civilization +never decays. But when it becomes the vile +caterer to a depraved taste, when it serves only to +multiply the morbid productions of enervated or +vitiated minds, the senseless quibbles of a sectarian +theology instead of religion, the venomous scurrility +of libellists instead of politics, the foul obscenities +of licentious rhymers instead of poesy—how +and why should the art of printing save a +civilization from ruin?</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page406" id="page406">[Pg 406]</a></span>It is objected that the art of printing contributes +to the preservation of a civilization by the facility +with which it multiplies and diffuses the masterpieces +of the human mind, so that, even in times +of intellectual sterility, when they can no longer +be emulated, they still form the standard of taste, +and by their clear and steady light prevent the +possibility of utter darkness. But it should be +remembered that to delve in the hoarded treasures +of thought, and to appropriate them for purposes +of mental improvement, presupposes the possession +of that greatest of earthly goods—an enlightened +mind. And in epochs of intellectual degeneracy, +few care about those monuments of lost virtues +and powers; they are left undisturbed on their +dusty shelves in libraries whose silence is but seldom +broken by the tread of the anxious, painstaking +student.</p> + +<p>The longevity which Guttenberg's invention +assures to the productions of genius is much +exaggerated. There are a few works that enjoy +the honor of being reproduced occasionally; with +this exception, books die now precisely as formerly +did the manuscripts. Works of science, +especially, disappear with singular rapidity from +the realms of literature. A few hundred copies<span class="pagenum"><a name="page407" id="page407">[Pg 407]</a></span> +are struck off at first, and they are seldom, and, +after a while, never heard of more. With considerable +trouble you can find them in some large +collection. Look what has become of the thousands +of excellent works that have appeared since +the first printed page came from the press. The +greater portion are forgotten. Many that are still +spoken of, are never read; the titles even of others, +that were carefully sought after fifty years ago, are +gradually disappearing from every memory.</p> + +<p>So long as a civilization is vigorous and flourishing, +this disappearance of old books is but a slight +misfortune. They are superseded; their valuable +portions are embodied in new ones; the seed +exists no longer, but the fruit is developing. In +times of intellectual degeneracy it is otherwise. +The weakened powers cannot grapple with the +solid thought of more vigorous eras; it is split up +into more convenient fragments—rendered more +portable, as it were; the strong beverage that once +was the pabulum of minds as strong, must be +diluted to suit the present taste; and innumerable +dilutions, each weaker than the other, immediately +claim public favor; the task of learning must be +lightened in proportion to the decreasing capacity +for acquiring; everything becomes superficial; +what costs the least effort gains the greatest esteem;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page408" id="page408">[Pg 408]</a></span> +play upon words is accounted wit; shallowness, +learning; the surface is preferred to the depth. +Thus it has ever been in periods of decay; thus it +will be with us when we have once reached that +point whence every movement is retrogressive. +Who knows but we are near it already?—and the +art of printing will not save us from it.</p> + +<p>To enhance the advantages which we derive +from that art, the number and diffusion of manuscripts +have been too much underrated. It is true +that they were scarce in the epoch immediately +preceding; but in the latter periods of the Roman +empire they were much more numerous and much +more widely diffused than is generally imagined. +In those times, the facilities for instruction were +by no means of difficult access; books, indeed, +were quite common. We may judge so from the +extraordinary number of threadbare grammarians +with which even the smallest villages swarmed; a +sort of people very much like the petty novelists, +lawyers, and editors of modern times, and whose +loose morals, shabbiness, and passionate love for +enjoyments, are described in Pretronius's Satyricon. +Even when the decadence was complete, those who +wished for books could easily procure them. Virgil +was read everywhere; so much so, that the +illiterate peasantry, hearing so much of him, imagined +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page409" id="page409">[Pg 409]</a></span>him to be some dangerous and powerful sorcerer. +The monks copied him; they copied Pliny, +Dioscorides, Plato, and Aristotle; they copied +Catullus and Martial. These books, then, cannot +have been very rare. Again, when we consider +how great a number has come down to us notwithstanding +centuries of war and devastation—notwithstanding +so many conflagrations of monasteries, +castles, libraries, &c.—we cannot but admit +that, in spite of the laborious process of transcription, +literary productions must have been multiplied +to a very great extent. It is possible, therefore, +to greatly exaggerate the obligations under +which science, poetry, morality, and true civilization +lie to the typographic art; and I repeat it, +that art is a marvellous instrument, but if the arm +that wields it, and the head that directs the arm, +are not, the instrument cannot be, of much service.</p> + +<p>Some people believe that the possession of gunpowder +exempts modern societies from many of +the dangers that proved fatal to the ancient. They +assert that it abates the horrors of warfare, and +diminishes its frequency, bidding fair, therefore, to +establish, in time, a state of universal peace. If +such be the beneficial results attendant on this accidental +invention, they have not as yet manifested +themselves.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page410" id="page410">[Pg 410]</a></span>Of the various applications of steam, and other +industrial inventions, I would say, as of the art of +printing, that they are great means, but their results +depend upon the agent. Such arts might be +practised by rote long after the intellectual activity +that produced them had ceased. There are innumerable +instances of processes which continue in +use, though the theoretical secret is lost. It is +therefore not unreasonable to suppose, that the +practice of our inventions might survive our civilization; +that is, it might continue when these inventions +were no longer possible, when no further +improvements were to be hoped for. Material +well-being is but an external appendage of a civilization; +intellectual activity, and a consequent +progress, are its life. A state of intellectual torpor, +therefore, cannot be a state of civilization, +even though the people thus stagnating, have the +means of transporting themselves rapidly from +place to place, or of adorning themselves and their +dwellings. This would only prove that they were +the <em>heirs</em> of a former civilization, but not that they +actually possessed one. I have said, in another +place, that a civilization may thus preserve, for a +time, every appearance of life: the effect may +continue after the cause has ceased. But, as a +continuous change seems to be the order of nature<span class="pagenum"><a name="page411" id="page411">[Pg 411]</a></span> +in all things material and immaterial, a downward +tendency is soon manifest. I have before compared +a civilization to the human body. While alive, it +undergoes a perpetual modification: every hour +has wrought a change; when dead, it preserves, +for a time, the appearance of life, perhaps even its +beauty; but gradually, symptoms of decay become +manifest, and every stage of dissolution is more +precipitate than the one before, as a stone thrown +up in the air, poises itself there for an inappreciable +fraction of time, then falls with continually +increasing velocity, more and more swiftly as it +approaches the ground.</p> + +<p>Every civilization has produced in those who +enjoyed its fruits, a firm conviction of its stability, +its perpetuity.</p> + +<p>When the palanquins of the Incas travelled +rapidly on the smooth, magnificent causeways +which still unite Cuzco and Quito, a distance of +fifteen hundred miles, with what feelings of exultation +must they have contemplated the conquests +of the present, what magnificent prospects of the +future must have presented themselves to their +imaginations! Stern time, with one blow of his +gigantic wings, hurled their empire into the deepest +depths of the abyss of oblivion. These proud +sovereigns of Peru—they, too, had their sciences,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page412" id="page412">[Pg 412]</a></span> +their mechanical inventions, their powerful machines: +the works they accomplished we contemplate +with amazement, and a vain effort to divine +the means employed. How were those blocks of +stone, thirty-five feet long and eighteen thick, +raised one upon another? How were they transported +the vast distance from the quarries where +they were hewn? By what contrivance did the +engineers of that people hoist those enormous +masses to a dizzy height? It is indeed a problem—a +problem, too, which we will never solve. Nor +are the ruins of Tihuanaco unparalleled by the +remains of European civilizations of ante-historic +times. The cyclopean walls with which Southern +Europe abounds, and which have withstood the +all-destroying tooth of time for thousands upon +thousands of years—who built them? Who piled +these monstrous masses, which modern art could +scarcely move?</p> + +<p>Let us not mistake the results of a civilization +for its causes. The causes cease, the results subsist +for a while, then are lost. If they again bear +fruit, it is because a new spirit has appropriated +them, and converted them to purposes often very +different from those they had at first. Human intelligence +is finite, nor can it ever reign at once in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page413" id="page413">[Pg 413]</a></span> +the whole of its domain:<a name="FNanchor-180" id="FNanchor-180"></a><a href="#Footnote-180" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 180.">[180]</a> it can turn to account +one portion of it only by leaving the other bare; +it exalts what it possesses, esteems lightly what it +has lost. Thus, every generation is at the same +time superior and inferior to its predecessors. Man +cannot, then, surpass himself: man's perfectibility +is not infinite.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page414" id="page414">[Pg 414]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h3> + +<p class="center">MUTUAL RELATIONS OF DIFFERENT MODES OF +INTELLECTUAL CULTURE.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>Necessary consequences of a supposed equality of all races—Uniform +testimony of history to the contrary—Traces of extinct +civilizations among barbarous tribes—Laws which govern +the adoption of a state of civilization by conquered populations—Antagonism +of different modes of culture; the Hellenic +and Persian, European and Arab, etc.</p></div> + + +<p>Had it been the will of the Creator to endow +all the branches of the human family with equal +intellectual capacities, what a glorious tableau +would history not unfold before us. All being +equally intelligent, equally aware of their true +interests, equally capable of triumphing over +obstacles, a number of simultaneous and flourishing +civilizations would have gladdened every portion +of the inhabited globe. While the most +ancient Sanscrit nations covered Northern India +with harvests, cities, palaces, and temples; and the +plains of the Tigris and Euphrates shook under<span class="pagenum"><a name="page415" id="page415">[Pg 415]</a></span> +the trampling of Nimrod's cavalry and chariots, +the prognathous tribes of Africa would have formed +and developed a social system, sagaciously +constructed, and productive of brilliant results.</p> + +<p>Some luckless tribes, whose lot fortune had cast +in inhospitable climes, burning sands, or glacial +regions, mountain gorges, or cheerless steppes +swept by the piercing winds of the north, would +have been compelled to a longer and severer +struggle against such unpropitious circumstances, +than more fortunate nations. But being not inferior +in intelligence and sagacity, they would not +have been long in discovering the means of bettering +their condition. Like the Icelanders, the +Danes, and Norwegians, they would have forced +the reluctant soil to afford them sustenance; if +inhabitants of mountainous regions, they would, +like the Swiss, have enjoyed the advantages of a +pastoral life, or like the Cashmerians, resorted to +manufacturing industry. But if their geographical +situation had been so unfavorable as to admit of +no resource, they would have reflected that the +world was large, contained many a pleasant valley +and fertile plain, where they might seek the fruits +of intelligent activity, which their stepmotherly +native land refused them.</p> + +<p>Thus all the nations of the earth would have<span class="pagenum"><a name="page416" id="page416">[Pg 416]</a></span> +been equally enlightened, equally prosperous; +some by the commerce of maritime cities, others +by productive agriculture in inland regions, or +successful industry in barren and Alpine districts. +Though they might not exempt themselves from +the misfortunes to which the imperfections of +human nature give rise—transitory dissensions, +civil wars, seditions, etc.—their individual interests +would soon have led them to invent some system +of relative equiponderance. As the differences in +their civilizations resulted merely from fortuitous +circumstances, and not from innate inequalities, a +mutual interchange would soon have assimilated +them in all essential points. Nothing could then +prevent a universal confederation, that dream of +so many centuries; and the inhabitants of the +most distant parts of the globe would have been +as members of one great cosmopolite people.</p> + +<p>Let us contrast this fantastic picture with the +reality. The first nations worthy of the name, +owed their formation to an instinct of aggregation, +which the barbarous tribes near them not only did +not feel then, but never afterward. These nations +spread beyond their original boundaries, and +forced others to submit to their power. But the +conquered neither adopted nor understood the +principles of the civilization imposed upon them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page417" id="page417">[Pg 417]</a></span> +Nor has the force of example been of avail to +those in whom innate capacity was wanting. The +native populations of the Spanish peninsula, and +of Transalpine and Ligurian Gaul, saw Phenicians, +Greeks, and Carthaginians, successively establish +flourishing cities on their coasts, without feeling +the least incitement to imitate the manners or +forms of government of these prosperous merchants.</p> + +<p>What a glorious spectacle do not the Indians of +North America witness at this moment. They +have before their eyes a great and prosperous +nation, eminent for the successful practical application +of modern theories and sciences to political +and social forms, as well as to industrial art. The +superiority of this foreign race, which has so firmly +established itself upon his former patrimony, is +evident to the red man. He sees their magnificent +cities, their thousands of vessels upon the once +silent rivers, their successful agriculture; he knows +that even his own rude wants, the blanket with +which he covers himself, the weapon with which +he slays his game, the ardent spirits he has learned +to love so well, can be supplied only by the +stranger. The last feeble hope to see his native +soil delivered from the presence of the conqueror's +race, has long since vanished from his breast; he +feels that the land of his fathers is not his own.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page418" id="page418">[Pg 418]</a></span> +Yet he stubbornly refuses to enter the pale of this +civilization which invites him, solicits him, tries to +entice him with superior advantages and comforts. +He prefers to retreat from solitude to solitude, +deeper and deeper into the primitive forest. He +is doomed to perish, and he knows it; but a mysterious +power retains him under the yoke of his +invincible repugnances, and while he admires the +strength and superiority of the whites, his conscience, +his whole nature, revolts at the idea of +assimilating to them. He cannot forget or smother +the instincts of his race.</p> + +<p>The aborigines of Spanish America are supposed +to evince a less unconquerable aversion. +It is because the Spanish metropolitan government +had never attempted to civilize them. Provided +they were Christians, at least in name, they were +left to their own usages and habits, and, in many +instances, under the administration of their Caziques. +The Spaniards colonized but little, and +when the conquest was completed and their sanguinary +appetites glutted by those unparalleled +atrocities which brand them with indelible disgrace, +they indulged in a lazy toleration, and directed +their tyranny rather against individuals +than against modes of thinking and living. The +Indians have, in a great measure, mixed with their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page419" id="page419">[Pg 419]</a></span> +conquerors, and will continue to live while their +brethren in the vicinity of the Anglo-Saxon race +are inevitably doomed to perish.</p> + +<p>But not only savages, even nations of a higher +rank in the intellectual scale are incapable of +adopting a foreign civilization. We have already +alluded to the failure of the English in India and +of the Dutch in Java, in trying to import their +own ideas into their foreign dependencies. French +philanthropy is at this moment gaining the same +experience in the new French possession of Algeria. +There can be no stronger or more conclusive +proof of the various endowments of different +races.</p> + +<p>If we had no other argument in proof of the +innate imparity of races than the actual condition +of certain barbarous tribes, and the supposition +that they had always been in that condition, and, +consequently, always would be, we should expose +ourselves to serious objections. For many barbarous +nations preserve traces of former cultivation +and refinement. There are some tribes, very degraded +in every other respect, who yet possess +traditional regulations respecting the marriage +celebration, the forms of justice and the division +of inheritances, which evidently are remnants of +a higher state of society, though the rites have<span class="pagenum"><a name="page420" id="page420">[Pg 420]</a></span> +long since lost all meaning. Many of the Indian +tribes who wander over the tracts once occupied +by the Alleghanian race, may be cited as instances +of this kind. The natives of the Marian Islands, +and many other savages, practise mechanically +certain processes of manufacture, the invention +of which presupposes a degree of ingenuity and +knowledge utterly at variance with their present +stupidity and ignorance. To avoid hasty and +erroneous conclusions concerning this seeming +decadence, there are several circumstances to be +taken into consideration.</p> + +<p>Let us suppose a savage population to fall within +the sphere of activity of a proximate, but superior +race. In that case they may gradually +learn to conform externally to the civilization of +their masters, and acquire the technicalities of +their arts and inventions. Should the dominant +race disappear either by expulsion or absorption, +the civilization would expire, but some of its outward +forms might be retained and perpetuated. +A certain degree of mechanical skill might survive +the scientific principles upon which it was +based. In other words, practice might long continue +after the theory was lost. History furnishes +us a number of examples in support of this assertion.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page421" id="page421">[Pg 421]</a></span>Such, for instance, was the attitude of the Assyrians +toward the civilization of the Chaldeans; of +the Iberians, Celts, and Illyrians towards that of +the Romans. If, then, the Cherokees, the Catawbas, +Muskogees, Seminoles, Natchez and other +tribes, still preserve a feeble impress of the Alleghanian +civilization, I should not thence conclude +that they are the pure and direct descendants of +the initiatory element of that people, which would +imply that a race may once have been civilized, +and be no longer so. I should say, on the contrary, +that the Cherokees, if at all ethnically connected +with the ancient dominant type, are so by +only a collateral tie of consanguinity, else they +could never have relapsed into a state of barbarism. +The other tribes which exhibit little or no +vestiges of the former civilization are probably +the descendants of a different conquered population +which formed no constituent element of the +society, but served rather as the substratum upon +which the edifice was erected. It is no matter of +surprise, if this be the case, that they should preserve—without +understanding them and with a +sort of superstitious veneration—customs, laws, +and rites invented by others far more intelligent +than themselves.</p> + +<p>The same may be said of the mechanical arts.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page422" id="page422">[Pg 422]</a></span> +The aborigines of the Carolines are about the +most interesting of the South Sea islanders. Their +looms, sculptured canoes, their taste for navigation +and commerce show them vastly superior to +the Pelagian negroes, their neighbors. It is easy +to account for this superiority by the well-authenticated +admixture of Malay blood. But as this +element is greatly attenuated, the inventions which +it introduced have not borne indigenous fruits, +but, on the contrary, are gradually, but surely, +disappearing.</p> + +<p>The preceding observations will, I think, suffice +to show that the traces of civilization among a +barbarous tribe are not a necessary proof that this +tribe itself has ever been really civilized. It may +either have lived under the domination of a superior +but consanguineous race, or living in its vicinity, +have, in an humble and feeble degree, profited +by its lessons. This result, however, is possible +only when there exists between the superior +and the inferior race a certain ethnical affinity; +that is to say, when the former is either a noble +branch of the same stock, or ennobled by intermixture +with another. When the disparity between +races is too great and too decided, and there +is no intermediate link to connect them, the contact +is always fatal to the inferior race, as is abundantly +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page423" id="page423">[Pg 423]</a></span>proved by the disappearance of the aborigines +of North America and Polynesia.</p> + +<p>I shall now speak of the relations arising from +the contact of different civilizations.</p> + +<p>The Persian civilization came in contact with +the Grecian; the Egyptian with the Grecian and +Roman; the Roman with the Grecian; and finally +the modern civilization of Europe with all those +at present subsisting on the globe, and especially +with the Arabian.</p> + +<p>The contact of Greek intelligence with the culture +of the Persians was as frequent as it was +compulsory. The greater portion of the Hellenic +population, and the wealthiest, though not the +most independent, was concentrated in the cities +of the Syrian coast, the Greek colonies of Asia +Minor, and on the shores of the Euxine, all of +which formed a part of the Persian dominions. +Though these colonies preserved their own local +laws and politics, they were under the authority +of the satraps of the great king. Intimate relations, +moreover, were maintained between European +Greece and Asia. That the Persians were +then possessed of a high degree of civilization is +proved by their political organization and financial +administration, by the magnificent ruins which +still attest the splendor and grandeur of their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page424" id="page424">[Pg 424]</a></span> +cities. But the principles of government and religion, +the modes and habits of life, the genius of +the arts, were very differently understood by the +two nations; and, therefore, notwithstanding their +constant intercourse, neither made the slightest +approach toward assimilation with the other. +The Greeks called their puissant neighbors barbarians, +and the latter, no doubt, amply returned +the compliment.</p> + +<p>In Ecbatana no other form of government could +be conceived than an undivided hereditary authority, +limited only by certain religious prescriptions +and a court ceremonial. The genius of the Greeks +tended to an endless variety of governmental forms; +subdivided into a number of petty sovereignties. +Greek society presented a singular mosaic of political +structures; oligarchical in Sparta, democratical +in Athens, tyrannical in Sicyon, monarchical in +Macedonia, the forms of government were the same +in scarcely two cities or districts. The state religion +of the Persians evinced the same tendency to unity +as their politics, and was more of a metaphysical and +moral than a material character. The Greeks, on +the contrary, had a symbolical system of religion, +consisting in the worship of natural objects and +influences, which gradually changed into a perfect +prosopopœia, representing the gods as sentient<span class="pagenum"><a name="page425" id="page425">[Pg 425]</a></span> +beings, subject to the same passions, and engaged +in the same pursuits and occupations as the inhabitants +of the earth. The worship consisted +principally in the performance of rites and demonstrations +of respect to the deities; the conscience +was left to the direction of the civil laws. Besides, +the rites, as well as the divinities and heroes in +whose honor they were practised, were different +in every place.</p> + +<p>As for the manners and habits of life, it is unnecessary +to point out how vastly different they +were from those of Persia. Public contempt +punished the young, wealthy, pleasure-loving cosmopolitan, +who attempted to live in Persian style. +Thus, until the time of Alexander, when the power +of Greece had arrived at its culminating point, +Persia, with all her preponderance, could not convert +Hellas to her civilization.</p> + +<p>In the time of Alexander, this incompatibility of +dissimilar modes of culture was singularly demonstrated. +When the empire of Darius succumbed +to the Macedonian phalanxes, it was expected, for +a time, that a Hellenic civilization would spread +over Asia. There seemed the more reason for +this belief when the conqueror, in a moment of +aberrancy, treated the monuments of the land +with such aggressive violence as seemed to evince<span class="pagenum"><a name="page426" id="page426">[Pg 426]</a></span> +equal hatred and contempt. But the wanton incendiary +of Persepolis soon changed his mind, +and so completely, that his design became apparent +to simply substitute himself in the room of +the dynasty of Achæmenes, and rule over Persia +like a Persian king, with Greece added to his +estates. Great as was Alexander's power, it was +insufficient for the execution of such a project. +His generals and soldiers could not brook to see +their commander assume the long flowing robes of +the eastern kings, surround himself with eunuchs, +and renounce the habits and manners of his native +land. Though after his death some of his successors +persisted in the same system, they were compelled +greatly to mitigate it. Where the population +consisted of a motley compound of Greeks, +Syrians, and Arabs, as in Egypt and the coast of +Asia Minor, a sort of compromise between the two +civilizations became thenceforth the normal state +of the country; but where the races remained +unmixed, the national manners were preserved.</p> + +<p>In the latter periods of the Roman empire, the +two civilizations had become completely blended +in the whole East, including continental Greece; +but it was tinged more with the Asiatic than the +Greek tendencies, because the masses belonged +much more to the former element than to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page427" id="page427">[Pg 427]</a></span> +latter. Hellenic forms, it is true, still subsisted, +but it is not difficult to discover in the ideas of +those periods and countries the Oriental stock +upon which the scions of the Alexandrian school +had been engrafted. The respective influence of +the various elements was in strict proportion to +the quantity of blood; the intellectual preponderance +belonged to that which had contributed the +greatest share.</p> + +<p>The same antagonism which I pointed out between +the intellectual culture of the Greeks and +that of the Persians, will be found to result from +the contact of all other widely different civilizations. +I shall mention but one more instance: +the relations between the Arab civilization<a name="FNanchor-181" id="FNanchor-181"></a><a href="#Footnote-181" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 181.">[181]</a> and +our own.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page428" id="page428">[Pg 428]</a></span>There was a time when the arts and sciences, +the muses and their train, seemed to have forsaken<span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden"><a name="page429" id="page429">[Pg 429]</a></span> +their former abodes, to rally around the standard +of Mohammed. That our forefathers were not +blind to the excellencies of the Arab civilization +is proved by their sending their sons to the schools +of Cordova. But not a trace of the spirit of that +civilization has remained in Europe, save in those +countries which still retain a portion of Ishmaelitic +blood. Nor has the Arab civilization found a +more congenial soil in India over which, also, its +dominion extended. Like those portions of Europe +which were subjected to Moslem masters, +that country has preserved its own modes of thinking +intact.</p> + +<p>But if the pressure of the Arab civilization, at +the time of its greatest splendor and our greatest +ignorance, could not affect the modes of thinking +of the races of Western Europe, neither can we, +at present, when the positions are reversed, affect +in the slightest degree the feeble remnants of that +once so flourishing civilization. Our action upon +these remnants is continuous—the pressure of our +intellectual activity upon them immense; we succeed +only in destroying, not in transforming or +remodelling.<a name="FNanchor-182" id="FNanchor-182"></a><a href="#Footnote-182" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 182.">[182]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page430" id="page430">[Pg 430]</a></span>Yet this civilization was not even original, and +might, therefore, be supposed to have a less obstinate +vitality. The Arab nation, it is well known, +based its empire and its intellectual culture upon +fragments of races which it had aggregated by +the weight of the sword. A variegated compound +like the Islamitic populations, could not but develop +a civilization of an equally variegated character, +to which each ethnical element contributed its +share. These elements it is not difficult to determine +and point out.</p> + +<p>The nucleus, around which aggregated those +countless multitudes, was a small band of valiant +warriors who unfurled in their native deserts the +standard of a new creed. They were not, before +Mohammed's time, a new or unknown people.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page431" id="page431">[Pg 431]</a></span> +They had frequently come in contact with the +Jews and Phenicians, and had in their veins the +blood of both these nations. Taking advantage of +their favorable situation for commerce, they had +performed the carrier trade of the Red Sea, and +the eastern coast of Africa and India, for the most +celebrated nations of ancient times, the Jews and +the Phenicians, later still, for the Romans and +Persians. They had the same traditions in common +with the Shemitic and Hamitic families from +which they sprung.<a name="FNanchor-183" id="FNanchor-183"></a><a href="#Footnote-183" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 183.">[183]</a> They had even taken an +active part in the political life of neighboring nations. +Under the Arsacides and the sons of Sassan, +some of their tribes exerted great influence in the +politics of the Persian empire. One of their adventurers<a name="FNanchor-184" id="FNanchor-184"></a><a href="#Footnote-184" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 184.">[184]</a> +had become Emperor of Rome; one of +their princes protected the majesty of Rome against +a conqueror before whom the whole east trembled, +and shared the imperial purple with the Roman<span class="pagenum"><a name="page432" id="page432">[Pg 432]</a></span> +sovereign;<a name="FNanchor-185" id="FNanchor-185"></a><a href="#Footnote-185" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 185.">[185]</a> one of their cities had become, under +Zenobia, the centre and capital of a vast empire +that rivalled and even threatened Rome.<a name="FNanchor-186" id="FNanchor-186"></a><a href="#Footnote-186" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 186.">[186]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page433" id="page433">[Pg 433]</a></span>It is evident, therefore, that the Arab nation +had never ceased, from the remotest antiquity, to +entertain intimate relations with the most powerful +and celebrated ancient societies. It had taken +part in their political and intellectual<a name="FNanchor-187" id="FNanchor-187"></a><a href="#Footnote-187" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 187.">[187]</a> activity; +and it might not inappropriately be compared to a +body half-plunged into the water, and half exposed +to the sun, as it partook at the same time of an +advanced state of civilization and of complete +barbarism.</p> + +<p>Mohammed invented the religion most conformable +to the ideas of a people, among whom idolatry +had still many zealous adherents, but where +Christianity, though having made numerous converts, +was losing favor on account of the endless +schisms and contentions of its followers.<a name="FNanchor-188" id="FNanchor-188"></a><a href="#Footnote-188" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 188.">[188]</a> The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page434" id="page434">[Pg 434]</a></span> +religious dogma of the Koreishite prophet was a +skilful compromise between the various contending<span class="pagenum"><a name="page435" id="page435">[Pg 435]</a></span> +opinions. It reconciled the Jewish dispensation +with the New Law better than could the Church +at that time, and thus solved a problem which had +disquieted the consciences of many of the earlier +Christians, and which, especially in the east, had +given rise to many heretical sects. This was in +itself a very tempting bait, and, besides, any theological +novelty had decided chances of success +among the Syrians and Egyptians.<a name="FNanchor-189" id="FNanchor-189"></a><a href="#Footnote-189" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 189.">[189]</a> Moreover, the +new religion appeared with sword in hand, which +in those times of schismatical propagandism seemed +a warrant of success more relied upon by the masses +to whom it addressed itself, than peaceful persuasion.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page436" id="page436">[Pg 436]</a></span>Thus arrayed, Islamism issued from its native +deserts. Arrogant, and possessed but in a very +slight degree of the inventive faculty, it developed +no civilization peculiar to itself, but it had adopted, +as far as it was capable of doing, the bastard Greco-Asiatic +civilization already extant. As its triumphant +banners progressed on the east and south of +the Mediterranean, it incorporated masses imbued +with the same tendencies and spirit. From each +of these it borrowed something. As its religious +dogmas were a patchwork of the tenets of the +Church, those of the Synagogue, and of the disfigured +traditions of Hedjaz and Yemen, so its +code of laws was a compound of the Persian and +the Roman, its science was Greco-Syrian<a name="FNanchor-190" id="FNanchor-190"></a><a href="#Footnote-190" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 190.">[190]</a> and Egyptian, +its administration from the beginning tolerant +like that of every body politic that embraces many +heterogeneous elements.</p> + +<p>It has caused much useless surprise, that Moslem +society should have made such rapid strides to +refinement of manners. But the mass of the people +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page437" id="page437">[Pg 437]</a></span>over whom its dominion extended, had merely +changed the name of their creed; they were old +and well-known actors on the stage of history, and +have simply been mistaken for a new nation when +they undertook to play the part of apostles before +the world. These people gave to the common +store their previous refinement and luxury; each +new addition to the standard of Islamism, contributed +some portion of its acquisitions. The vitalizing +principle of the society, the motive power of +this cumbrous mass, was the small nucleus of Arab +tribes that had come forth from the heart of the +peninsula. They furnished, not artists and learned +men, but fanatics, soldiers, victors, and masters.</p> + +<p>The Arab civilization, then, is nothing but +the Greco-Syrian civilization, rejuvenated and +quickened, for a time, with a new and energetic, +but short-lived, genius. It was, besides, a little +renovated and a little modified, by a slight dash of +Persian civilization.</p> + +<p>Yet, motley and incongruous as are the elements +of which it is composed, and capable of stretching +and accommodating itself as such a compound +must be, it cannot adapt itself to any social structure +erected by other elements than its own. In +other words, many as are the races that contributed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page438" id="page438">[Pg 438]</a></span> +to its formation, it is suited to none that have <em>not</em> +contributed to it.</p> + +<p>This is what the whole course of history teaches +us. Every race has its own modes of thinking; +every race, capable of developing a civilization, +develops one peculiar to itself, and which it cannot +engraft upon any other, except by amalgamation +of blood, and then in but a modified degree. +The European cannot win the Asiatic to his modes +of thinking; he cannot civilize the Australian, or +the Negro; he can transmit but a portion of his +intelligence to his half-breed offspring of the inferior +race; the progeny of that half-breed and the +nobler branch of his ancestry, is but one degree +nearer, but not equal to that branch in capacity: +the proportions of blood are strictly preserved. I +have adduced illustrations of this truth from the +history of various branches of the human family, +of the lowest as well as of the higher in the scale +of intellectual progress. Are we not, then, authorized +to conclude that the diversity observable +among them is constitutional, innate, and not the +result of accident or circumstances—that there is +an absolute inequality in their intellectual endowments?</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page439" id="page439">[Pg 439]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h3> + +<p class="center">MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF +THE THREE GREAT VARIETIES.</p> + +<div class="chapdesc"><p>Impropriety of drawing general conclusions from individual +cases—Recapitulatory sketch of the leading features of the +Negro, the Yellow, and the White races—Superiority of the +latter—Conclusion of volume the first.</p></div> + + +<p>In the preceding pages, I have endeavored to +show that, though there are both scientific and +religious reasons for not believing in a plurality +of origins of our species, the various branches of +the human family are distinguished by permanent +and irradicable differences, both mentally and physically. +They are unequal in intellectual capacity,<a name="FNanchor-191" id="FNanchor-191"></a><a href="#Footnote-191" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 191.">[191]</a> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page440" id="page440">[Pg 440]</a></span>in personal beauty, and in physical strength. +Again I repeat, that in coming to this conclusion, +I have totally eschewed the method which is, unfortunately +for the cause of science, too often resorted +to by ethnologists, and which, to say the +least of it, is simply ridiculous. The discussion +has not rested upon the moral and intellectual +worth of isolated individuals.</p> + +<p>With regard to moral worth, I have proved +that all men, to whatever race they may belong, +are capable of receiving the lights of true religion, +and of sufficiently appreciating that blessing to +work out their own salvation. With regard to +intellectual capacity, I emphatically protest against +that mode of arguing which consists in saying, +"every negro is a dunce;" because, by the same +logic, I should be compelled to admit that "every +white man is intelligent;" and I shall take good +care to commit no such absurdity.</p> + +<p>I shall not even wait for the vindicators of the +absolute equality of all races, to adduce to me +such and such a passage in some missionary's or +navigator's journal, wherefrom it appears that some +Yolof has become a skilful carpenter, that some +Hottentot has made an excellent domestic, that +some Caffre plays well on the violin, or that some<span class="pagenum"><a name="page441" id="page441">[Pg 441]</a></span> +Bambarra has made very respectable progress in +arithmetic.</p> + +<p>I am prepared to admit—and to admit without +proof—anything of that sort, however remarkable, +that may be related of the most degraded +savages. I have already denied the excessive +stupidity, the incurable idiotcy of even the +lowest on the scale of humanity. Nay, I go +further than my opponents, and am not in the least +disposed to doubt that, among the chiefs of the +rude negroes of Africa, there could be found a +considerable number of active and vigorous minds, +greatly surpassing in fertility of ideas and mental +resources, the average of our peasantry, and even +of some of our middle classes. But the unfairness +of deductions based upon a comparison of the +most intelligent blacks and the least intelligent +whites, must be obvious to every candid mind.</p> + +<p>Once for all, such arguments seem to me unworthy +of real science, and I do not wish to place +myself upon so narrow and unsafe a ground. If +Mungo Park, or the brothers Lander, have given +to some negro a certificate of superior intelligence, +who will assure us that another traveller, meeting +the same individual, would not have arrived +at a diametrically opposite conclusion concerning +him? Let us leave such puerilities, and compare,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page442" id="page442">[Pg 442]</a></span> +not the individuals, but the masses. When we +shall have clearly established of what the latter +are capable, by what tendencies they are characterized, +and by what limits their intellectual activity +and development are circumscribed, whether, since +the beginning of the historic epoch, they have +acted upon, or been acted upon by other groups—when +we shall have clearly established these points, +we may then descend to details, and, perhaps, one +day be able to decide why the greatest minds of +one group are inferior to the most brilliant geniuses +of another, in what respects the vulgar herds of +all types assimilate, and in what others they differ, +and why. But this difficult and delicate task cannot +be accomplished until the relative position of +the whole mass of each race shall have been +nicely, and, so to say, mathematically defined. I +do not know whether we may hope ever to arrive +at results of such incontestable clearness and precision, +as to be able to no longer trust solely to +general facts, but to embrace the various shades +of intelligence in each group, to define and class +the inferior strata of every population and their +influence on the activity of the whole. Were it +possible thus to divide each group into certain +strata, and compare these with the corresponding +strata of every other: the most gifted of the dominant +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page443" id="page443">[Pg 443]</a></span>with the most gifted of the dominated races, +and so on downwards, the superiority of some in +capacity, energy, and activity would be self-demonstrated.</p> + +<p>After having mentioned the facts which prove +the inequality of various branches of the human +family, and having laid down the method by which +that proof should be established, I arrived at the +conclusion that the whole of our species is divisible +into three great groups, which I call primary +varieties, in order to distinguish them from others +formed by intermixture. It now remains for me +to assign to each of these groups the principal +characteristics by which it is distinguished from +the others.</p> + +<p>The dark races are the lowest on the scale. The +shape of the pelvis has a character of animalism, +which is imprinted on the individuals of that race +ere their birth, and seems to portend their destiny. +The circle of intellectual development of that group +is more contracted than that of either of the two +others.</p> + +<p>If the negro's narrow and receding forehead +seems to mark him as inferior in reasoning capacity, +other portions of his cranium as decidedly +point to faculties of an humbler, but not the less +powerful character. He has energies of a not despicable +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page444" id="page444">[Pg 444]</a></span>order, and which sometimes display themselves +with an intensity truly formidable. He is +capable of violent passions, and passionate attachments. +Some of his senses have an acuteness unknown +to the other races: the sense of taste, and +that of smell, for instance.</p> + +<p>But it is precisely this development of the animal +faculties that stamps the negro with the mark +of inferiority to other races. I said that his sense +of taste was acute; it is by no means fastidious. +Every sort of food is welcome to his palate; none +disgusts<a name="FNanchor-192" id="FNanchor-192"></a><a href="#Footnote-192" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 192.">[192]</a> him; there is no flesh nor fowl too vile<span class="pagenum"><a name="page445" id="page445">[Pg 445]</a></span> +to find a place in his stomach. So it is with regard +to odor. His sense of smell might rather be called +greedy than acute. He easily accommodates himself +to the most repulsive.</p> + +<p>To these traits he joins a childish instability of +humor. His feelings are intense, but not enduring. +His grief is as transitory as it is poignant, and he +rapidly passes from it to extreme gayety. He is +seldom vindictive—his anger is violent, but soon +appeased. It might almost be said that this variability +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page446" id="page446">[Pg 446]</a></span>of sentiments annihilates for him the existence +of both virtue and vice. The very ardency +to which his sensibilities are aroused, implies a +speedy subsidence; the intensity of his desire, a +prompt gratification, easily forgotten. He does not +cling to life with the tenacity of the whites. But +moderately careful of his own, he easily sacrifices +that of others, and kills, though not absolutely +bloodthirsty, without much provocation or subsequent +remorse.<a name="FNanchor-193" id="FNanchor-193"></a><a href="#Footnote-193" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 193.">[193]</a> Under intense suffering, he exhibits +a moral cowardice which readily seeks refuge +in death, or in a sort of monstrous impassivity.<a name="FNanchor-194" id="FNanchor-194"></a><a href="#Footnote-194" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 194.">[194]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page447" id="page447">[Pg 447]</a></span>With regard to his moral capacities, it may be +stated that he is susceptible, in an eminent degree, +of religious emotions; but unless assisted by the +light of the Gospel, his religious sentiments are of +a decidedly sensual character.</p> + +<p>Having demonstrated the little intellectual and +strongly sensual<a name="FNanchor-195" id="FNanchor-195"></a><a href="#Footnote-195" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 195.">[195]</a> character of the black variety, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page448" id="page448">[Pg 448]</a></span> +as the type of which I have taken the negro of +Western Africa, I shall now proceed to examine<span class="pagenum"><a name="page449" id="page449">[Pg 449]</a></span> +the moral and intellectual characteristics of the +second in the scale—the yellow.</p> + +<p>This seems to form a complete antithesis to +the former. In them, the skull, instead of being +thrown backward, projects. The forehead is large, +often jutting out, and of respectable height. The +facial conformation is somewhat triangular, but +neither chin nor nose has the rude, animalish +development that characterizes the negro. A +tendency to obesity is not precisely a specific +feature, but it is more often met with among the +yellow races than among any others. In muscular +vigor, in intensity of feelings and desires, they are +greatly inferior to the black. They are supple and +agile, but not strong. They have a decided taste +for sensual pleasures, but their sensuality is less +violent, and, if I may so call it, more vicious than +the negro's, and less quickly appeased. They +place a somewhat greater value upon human life +than the negro does, but they are more cruel for +the sake of cruelty. They are as gluttonous as +the negro, but more fastidious in their choice of +viands, as is proved by the immoderate attention +bestowed on the culinary art among the more +civilized of these races. In other words, the yellow +races are less impulsive than the black. Their +will is characterized by obstinacy rather than<span class="pagenum"><a name="page450" id="page450">[Pg 450]</a></span> +energetic violence; their anger is vindictive +rather than clamorous; their cruelty more studied +than passionate; their sensuality more refinedly +vicious than absorbing. They are, therefore, seldom +prone to extremes. In morals, as in intellect, +they display a mediocrity: they are given to grovelling +vices rather than to dark crimes; when +virtuous, they are so oftener from a sense of practical +usefulness than from exalted sentiments. In +regard to intellectual capacity, they easily understand +whatever is not very profound, nor very +sublime; they have a keen appreciation of the +useful and practical, a great love of quiet and +order, and even a certain conception of a slight +modicum of personal or municipal liberty. The +yellow races are practical people in the narrowest +sense of the word. They have little scope of +imagination, and therefore invent but little: for +great inventions, even the most exclusively utilitarian, +require a high degree of the imaginative +faculty. But they easily understand and adopt +whatever is of practical utility. The <i>summum +bonum</i> of their desires and aspirations is to pass +smoothly and quietly through life.</p> + +<p>It is apparent from this sketch, that they are +superior to the blacks in aptitude and intellectual +capacity. A theorist who would form some model<span class="pagenum"><a name="page451" id="page451">[Pg 451]</a></span> +society, might wish such a population to form the +substratum upon which to erect his structure; but +a society, composed entirely of such elements, +would display neither great stamina nor capacity +for anything great and exalted.</p> + +<p>We are now arrived at the third and last of the +"primary" varieties—the white. Among them we +find great physical vigor and capacity of endurance; +an intensity of will and desire, but which +is balanced and governed by the intellectual faculties. +Great things are undertaken, but not blindly, +not without a full appreciation of the obstacles to +be overcome, and with a systematic effort to overcome +them. The utilitarian tendency is strong, +but is united with a powerful imaginative faculty, +which elevates, ennobles, idealizes it. Hence, the +power of invention; while the negro can merely +imitate, the Chinese only utilize, to a certain extent, +the practical results attained by the white, +the latter is continually adding new ones to those +already gained. His capacity for combination of +ideas leads him perpetually to construct new facts +from the fragments of the old; hurries him along +through a series of unceasing modifications and +changes. He has as keen a sense of order as the +man of the yellow race, but not, like him, from<span class="pagenum"><a name="page452" id="page452">[Pg 452]</a></span> +love of repose and inertia, but from a desire to +protect and preserve his acquisitions. At the +same time, he has an ardent love of liberty, which +is often carried to an extreme; an instinctive aversion +to the trammels of that rigidly formalistic +organization under which the Chinese vegetates +with luxurious ease; and he as indignantly rejects +the haughty despotism which alone proves a sufficient +restraint for the black races.</p> + +<p>The white man is also characterized by a singular +love of life. Perhaps it is because he knows +better how to make use of it than other races, that +he attaches to it a greater value and spares it more +both in himself and in others. In the extreme of +his cruelty, he is conscious of his excesses; a sentiment +which it may well be doubted whether it +exist among the blacks. Yet though he loves life +better than other races, he has discovered a number +of reasons for sacrificing it or laying it down +without murmur. His valor, his bravery, are not +brute, unthinking passions, not the result of callousness +or impassivity: they spring from exalted, +though often erroneous, sentiments, the principal +of which is expressed by the word "honor." This +feeling, under a variety of names and applications, +has formed the mainspring of action of most of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page453" id="page453">[Pg 453]</a></span> +white races since the beginning of historical times. +It accommodates itself to every mode of existence, +to every walk of life. It is as puissant in the +pulpit and at the martyr's stake, as on the field of +battle; in the most peaceful and humble pursuits +of life as in the highest and most stirring. It were +impossible to define all the ideas which this word +comprises; they are better felt than expressed. +But this feeling—we might call it instinctive—is +unknown to the yellow, and unknown to the black +races: while in the white it quickens every noble +sentiment—the sense of justice, liberty, patriotism, +love, religion—it has no name in the language, no +place in the hearts, of other races. This I consider +as the principal reason of the superiority of our +branch of the human family over all others; because +even in the lowest, the most debased of our +race, we generally find some spark of this redeeming +trait, and however misapplied it may often be, +and certainly is, it prevents us, even in our deepest +errors, from falling so fearfully low as the others. +The extent of moral abasement in which we find so +many of the yellow and black races is absolutely +impossible even to the very refuse of our society. +The latter may equal, nay, surpass them in crime; +but even they would shudder at that hideous abyss<span class="pagenum"><a name="page454" id="page454">[Pg 454]</a></span> +of corrosive vices, which opens before the friend of +humanity on a closer study of these races.<a name="FNanchor-196" id="FNanchor-196"></a><a href="#Footnote-196" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 196.">[196]</a></p> + +<p>Before concluding this picture, I would add that +the immense superiority of the white races in all +that regards the intellectual faculties, is joined to +an inferiority as strikingly marked, in the intensity +of sensations. Though his whole structure is more +vigorous, the white man is less gifted in regard to +the perfection of the senses than either the black +or the yellow, and therefore less solicited and less +absorbed by animal gratifications.</p> + +<p class="tbreak">I have now arrived at the historical portion of +my subject. There I shall place the truths +enounced in this volume in a clearer light, and +furnish irrefragable proofs of the fact, which forms +the basis of my theory, that nations degenerate +only in consequence and in proportion to their +admixture with an inferior race—that a society +receives its death-blow when, from the number of +diverse ethnical elements which it comprises, a +number of diverse modes of thinking and interests +contend for predominance; when these modes<span class="pagenum"><a name="page455" id="page455">[Pg 455]</a></span> +of thinking, and these interests have arisen in +such multiplicity that every effort to harmonize +them, to make them subservient to some great +purpose, is in vain; when, therefore, the only +natural ties that can bind large masses of men, +homogeneity of thoughts and feelings, are severed, +the only solid foundation of a social structure +sapped and rotten.</p> + +<p>To furnish the necessary details for this assertion, +to remove the possibility of even the slightest +doubt, I shall take up separately, every great +and independent civilization that the world has +seen flourish. I shall trace its first beginnings, its +subsequent stages of development, its decadence +and final decay. Here, then, is the proper test of +my theory; here we can see the laws that govern +ethnical relations in full force on a magnificent +scale; we can verify their inexorably uniform and +rigorous application. The subject is immense, the +panorama spread before us the grandest and most +imposing that the philosopher can contemplate, +for its tableaux comprise the scene of action of +every instance where man has really worked out +his mission "to have dominion over the earth."</p> + +<p>The task is great—too great, perhaps, for any +one's undertaking. Yet, on a more careful investigation, +many of the apparently insuperable difficulties +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page456" id="page456">[Pg 456]</a></span>which discouraged the inquirer will vanish; +in the gorgeous succession of scenes that meet his +glance, he will perceive a uniformity, an intimate +relation and connection which, like Ariadne's +thread, will enable the undaunted and persevering +student to find his way through the mazes of the +labyrinth: we shall find that every civilization +owes its origin, its development, its splendors, to +the agency of the white races. In China and in +India, in the vast continent of the West, centuries +ere Columbus found it—it was one of the group +of white races that gave the impetus, and, so long +as it lasted, sustained it. Startling as this assertion +may appear to a great number of readers, +I hope to demonstrate its correctness by incontrovertible +historical testimony. Everywhere the +white races have taken the initiative, everywhere +they have <em>brought</em> civilization to the others—everywhere +they have sown the seed: the vigor +and beauty of the plant depended on whether the +soil it found was congenial or not.</p> + +<p>The migrations of the white race, therefore, +afford us at once a guide for our historical researches, +and a clue to many apparently inexplicable +mysteries: we shall learn to understand why, +in a vast country, the development of civilization +has come to a stand, and been superseded by a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page457" id="page457">[Pg 457]</a></span> +retrogressive movement; why, in another, all but +feeble traces of a high state of culture has vanished +without apparent cause; why people, the lowest +in the scale of intellect, are yet found in possession +of arts and mechanical processes that would do +honor to a highly intellectual race.</p> + +<p>Among the group of white races, the noblest, +the most highly gifted in intellect and personal +beauty, the most active in the cause of civilization, +is the Arian<a name="FNanchor-197" id="FNanchor-197"></a><a href="#Footnote-197" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 197.">[197]</a> race. Its history is intimately associated +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page458" id="page458">[Pg 458]</a></span>with almost every effort on the part of man +to develop his moral and intellectual powers.</p> + +<p>It now remains for me to trace out the field of +inquiry into which I propose to enter in the succeeding +volumes. The list of great, independent +civilizations is not long. Among all the innumerable +nations that "strutted their brief hour on the +stage" of the world, ten only have arrived at the +state of complete societies, giving birth to distinct +modes of intellectual culture. All the others +were imitators or dependents; like planets they +revolved around, and derived their light from the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page459" id="page459">[Pg 459]</a></span> +suns of the systems to which they belonged. At +the head of my list I would place:—</p> + +<p>1. The Indian civilization. It spread among +the islands of the Indian Ocean, towards the north, +beyond the Himalaya Mountains, and towards +the east, beyond the Brahmapootra. It was originated +by a white race of the Arian stock.</p> + +<p>2. The Egyptian civilization comes next. As +its satellites may be mentioned the less perfect +civilizations of the Ethiopians, Nubians, and several +other small peoples west of the oasis of Ammon. +An Arian colony from India, settled in the +upper part of the Nile valley, had established this +society.</p> + +<p>3. The Assyrians, around whom rallied the +Jews, Phenicians, Lydians, Carthaginians, and Hymiarites, +were indebted for their social intelligence +to the repeated invasions of white populations. +The Zoroastrian Iranians, who flourished in Further +Asia, under the names of Medes, Persians, +and Bactrians, were all branches of the Arian +family.</p> + +<p>4. The Greeks belonged to the same stock, but +were modified by Shemitic elements, which, in +course of time, totally transformed their character.</p> + +<p>5. China presents the precise counterpart of +Egypt. The light of civilization was carried<span class="pagenum"><a name="page460" id="page460">[Pg 460]</a></span> +thither by Arian colonies. The substratum of the +social structure was composed of elements of the +yellow race, but the white civilizers received reinforcements +of their blood at various times.</p> + +<p>6. The ancient civilization of the Italian peninsula +(the Etruscan civilization), was developed by +a mosaic of populations of the Celtic, Iberian, and +Shemitic stock, but cemented by Arian elements. +From it emerged the civilization of Rome.</p> + +<p>7. Our civilization is indebted for its tone and +character to the Germanic conquerors of the fifth +century. They were a branch of the Arian family.</p> + +<p>8, 9, 10. Under these heads I class the three +civilizations of the western continent, the Alleghanian, +the Mexican, and the Peruvians.</p> + +<p>This is the field I have marked out for my investigations, +the results of which will be laid before +the reader in the succeeding volumes. The first +part of my work is here at an end—the vestibule +of the structure I wish to erect is completed.</p> + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page461" id="page461">[Pg 461]</a></span></p> + +<p class="center"><big>APPENDIX.</big></p> + +<p class="center"><em class="smcap">By</em> J. C. NOTT, M. D.,<br /> +<small>MOBILE, ALABAMA.</small></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" style="visibility:hidden"><a name="page462" id="page462">[Pg 462]</a></span> + +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page463" id="page463">[Pg 463]</a></span></p> + +<h2 class="break"><a name="APPENDIX" id="APPENDIX"></a>APPENDIX.</h2> + +<hr class="minor" /> + +<p>I have seldom perused a work which has afforded +me so much pleasure and instruction as the +one of Count Gobineau, "<cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Sur l'Inégalité des Races +Humaines</cite>," and regard most of his conclusions as +incontrovertible. There are, however, a few points +in his argument which should not be passed without +comment, and others not sufficiently elaborated. +My original intention was to say much, but, fortunately +for me, my colleague, Mr. Hotz, has so +fully and ably anticipated me, in his Introduction +and Notes, as to leave me little of importance to +add.</p> + +<p>The essay of Count Gobineau is eminently practical +and useful in its design. He views the +various races of men rather as a historian than +a naturalist, and while he leaves open the long +mooted question of <em>unity</em> of origin, he so fully +establishes the <em>permanency</em> of the actual moral, +intellectual, and physical diversities of races as to +leave no ground for antagonists to stand upon. +Whatever <em>remote causes</em> may be assigned, there is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page464" id="page464">[Pg 464]</a></span> +no appeal from the conclusion that white, black, +Mongol, and other races were fully developed in +nations some 3000 years before Christ, and that +no physical causes, during this long course of time, +have been in operation, to change one type of man +into another. Count Gobineau, therefore, accepts +the <em>existing</em> diversity of races as at least an <em>accomplished +fact</em>, and draws lessons of wisdom from the +plain teachings of history. Man with him ceases +to be an abstraction; each race, each nation, is +made a separate study, and a fertile but unexplored +field is opened to our view.</p> + +<p>Our author leans strongly towards a belief in +the <em>original diversity</em> of races, but has evidently +been much embarrassed in arriving at conclusions +by religious scruples and by the want of accurate +knowledge in that part of natural history which +treats of the designation of <em>species</em>, and the laws of +<em>hybridity</em>; he has been taught to believe that two +distinct species cannot produce perfectly prolific +offspring, and therefore concludes that all races of +men <em>must</em> be of one origin, because they are prolific +<i>inter se</i>. My appendix will therefore be devoted +mainly to this question of species.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page465" id="page465">[Pg 465]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="A" id="A"></a>A.</h3> + + +<p>Our author has taken the facts of Dr. Morton at +second hand, and, moreover, had not before him Dr. +Morton's later tables and more matured deductions; +I shall therefore give an abstract of his results as +published by himself in 1849, with some comments of +my own. The figures represent the internal capacity +of the skull in cubic inches, and were obtained by filling +the cavity with shot and afterwards pouring them +into an accurately graduated measure.</p> + +<p>It must be admitted that the collection of Morton is +not sufficiently full in all its departments to enable +us to arrive at the absolute capacity of crania in the +different races; but it is sufficiently complete to establish +beyond cavil, the fact that the crania of the white +are much larger than those of the dark races. His +table is very incomplete in Mongol, Malays, and some +others; but in the white races of Europe, the black +races, and the American, the results are substantially +correct. I have myself had ample opportunities for +examining the heads of living negroes and Indians of +America, as well as a considerable number of crania, +and can fully indorse Dr. Morton's results. It will be +seen that his skulls of American aborigines amount to +338.</p> + +<div class="center"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page466" id="page466">[Pg 466]</a></span> + +<table title="Size of the brains of various races" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="The mean brain size in cubic inches is highest amongst modern white families and lowest among native American families"> +<caption>Table, showing the Size of the Brain in Cubic Inches, +as obtained by the Measurement of 623 Crania of +various Races and Families of Man.</caption> +<thead> + <tr> + <th class="bt bb" colspan="3" scope="col">RACES AND FAMILIES.</th> + <th class="bbox" abbr="Number" id="h2">No. of<br /> skulls.</th> + <th class="bbox" abbr="Max" id="h3">Largest <br />internal<br /> capacity.</th> + <th class="bbox" abbr="Min" id="h4">Smallest <br />internal <br />capacity.</th> + <th class="bbox" title="Race" id="h5">Mean.</th> + <th class="bt bb bl" title="Family" id="h6" colspan="2">Mean.</th> + </tr> +</thead> +<tbody> + <tr> + <th class="bt" colspan="3" id="ar" axis="group">MODERN CAUCASIAN GROUP.</th> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left top smcap" rowspan="3" id="ar1" axis="family">Teutonic Family—</th> + <td class="left" colspan="2" id="ar11" axis="race">Germans</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar11 h2">18</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar11 h3">114</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar11 h4">70</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar11 h5">90</td> + <td style="width: 5%; text-align:left;" rowspan="3"> + <span style="font-size:400%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.5em;text-indent:0;">}</span> + </td> + <td class="left" style="width: 10%;" rowspan="3" headers="ar1 h6">92</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left" colspan="2" id="ar12" axis="race">English</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar12 h2">5</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar12 h3">105</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar12 h4">91</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar12 h5">96</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left" colspan="2" id="ar13" axis="race">Anglo-Americans</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar13 h2">7</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar13 h3">97</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar13 h4">82</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar13 h5">90</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left top smcap" rowspan="3" id="ar2" axis="family">Pelasgic Family—</th> + <td class="left" id="ar21" axis="race">Persians</td> + <td style="width: 5%; text-align:right;padding:0;" rowspan="3"> + <span style="font-size:400%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.5em;text-indent:0;">}</span></td> + <td rowspan="3" headers="ar2 h2">10</td> + <td class="bl" rowspan="3" headers="ar2 h3">94</td> + <td class="bl" rowspan="3" headers="ar2 h4">75</td> + <td class="bl" rowspan="3" headers="ar2 h5">84</td> + <td class="bl" rowspan="3"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left" id="ar22" axis="race">Armenians</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left" id="ar23" axis="race">Circassians</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" id="ar3" axis="family">Celtic Family—</th> + <td class="left" colspan="2" id="ar31" axis="race">Native Irish</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar31 h2">6</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar31 h3">97</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar31 h4">78</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar31 h5">87</td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" id="ar4" axis="family">Indostanic Family—</th> + <td class="left" colspan="2" id="ar41" axis="race">Bengalees, &c.</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar41 h2">32</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar41 h3">91</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar41 h4">67</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar41 h5">80</td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" id="ar5" axis="family">Shemitic Family—</th> + <td class="left" colspan="2" id="ar51" axis="race">Arabs</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar51 h2">3</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar51 h3">98</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar51 h4">84</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar51 h5">89</td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" id="ar6" axis="family">Nilotic Family—</th> + <td class="left" colspan="2" id="ar61" axis="race">Fellahs</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar61 h2">17</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar61 h3">96</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar61 h4">66</td> + <td class="bl" headers="ar61 h5">80</td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="3" id="br" axis="group">ANCIENT CAUCASIAN GROUP.</th> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left top smcap" id="br1" axis="family">Pelasgic Family—</th> + <td class="left" colspan="2" id="br11" axis="race">Greco-Egyptians<br />(from Catacombs)</td> + <td class="bl" headers="br11 h2">18</td> + <td class="bl" headers="br11 h3">97</td> + <td class="bl" headers="br11 h4">74</td> + <td class="bl" headers="br11 h5">88</td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left top smcap" id="br2" axis="family">Nilotic Family—</th> + <td class="left" colspan="2" id="br21" axis="race">Egyptians<br />(from Catacombs)</td> + <td class="bl" headers="br21 h2">55</td> + <td class="bl" headers="br21 h3">96</td> + <td class="bl" headers="br21 h4">68</td> + <td class="bl" headers="br21 h5">80</td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="3" id="cr" axis="group">MONGOLIAN GROUP.</th> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" colspan="3" id="cr1" axis="family">Chinese Family</th> + <td class="bl" headers="cr1 h2">6</td> + <td class="bl" headers="cr1 h3">91</td> + <td class="bl" headers="cr1 h4">70</td> + <td class="bl" headers="cr1 h5">82</td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="3" id="dr" axis="group">MALAY GROUP.</th> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" colspan="3" id="dr1" axis="family">Malayan Family</th> + <td class="bl" headers="dr1 h2">20</td> + <td class="bl" headers="dr1 h3">97</td> + <td class="bl" headers="dr1 h4">68</td> + <td class="bl" headers="dr1 h5">86</td> + <td style="width: 5%; text-align:left;" rowspan="2"> + <span style="font-size:300%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.5em;text-indent:0;">}</span></td> + <td class="left" style="width: 10%;" rowspan="2" headers="dr h6">85</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" colspan="3" id="dr2" axis="family">Polynesian Family</th> + <td class="bl" headers="dr2 h2">8</td> + <td class="bl" headers="dr2 h3">84</td> + <td class="bl" headers="dr2 h4">82</td> + <td class="bl" headers="dr2 h5">83</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="3" id="er" axis="group">AMERICAN GROUP.</th> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left top smcap" rowspan="2" id="er1" axis="family">Toltecan Family—</th> + <td class="left" colspan="2" id="er11" axis="race">Peruvians</td> + <td class="bl" headers="er11 h2">155</td> + <td class="bl" headers="er11 h3">101</td> + <td class="bl" headers="er11 h4">58</td> + <td class="bl" headers="er11 h5">75</td> + <td style="width: 3%; text-align:left;padding:0;" rowspan="5"> + <span style="font-size:600%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.5em;text-indent:0;">}</span></td> + <td class="left" style="width: 10%;" rowspan="5" headers="er h6">79</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left" colspan="2" id="er12" axis="race">Mexicans</td> + <td class="bl" headers="er12 h2">22</td> + <td class="bl" headers="er12 h3">92</td> + <td class="bl" headers="er12 h4">67</td> + <td class="bl" headers="er12 h5">79</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left top smcap" rowspan="4" id="er2" axis="family">Barbarous Tribes—</th> + <td class="left" id="er21" axis="race">Iroquois</td> + <td style="width: 3%; text-align:right;padding:0;" rowspan="4"> + <span style="font-size:500%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.5em;text-indent:0;">}</span></td> + <td rowspan="4" headers="er2 h2">161</td> + <td class="bl" rowspan="4" headers="er2 h3">104</td> + <td class="bl" rowspan="4" headers="er2 h4">70</td> + <td class="bl" rowspan="4" headers="er2 h5">84</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left" id="er22" axis="race">Lenapè</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left" id="er23" axis="race">Cherokee</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left" id="er24" axis="race">Shoshonè, &c.</td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th colspan="3" id="fr" axis="group">NEGRO GROUP.</th> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" colspan="3" id="fr1" axis="group">Native African Family</th> + <td class="bl" headers="fr1 h2">62</td> + <td class="bl" headers="fr1 h3">99</td> + <td class="bl" headers="fr1 h4">65</td> + <td class="bl" headers="fr1 h5">83</td> + <td style="width: 5%; text-align:left;" rowspan="2"> + <span style="font-size:300%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.5em;text-indent:0;">}</span></td> + <td class="left" rowspan="2" headers="fr1 fr2 h6">83</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" colspan="3" id="fr2" axis="group">American-born Negroes</th> + <td class="bl" headers="fr2 h2">12</td> + <td class="bl" headers="fr2 h3">89</td> + <td class="bl" headers="fr2 h4">73</td> + <td class="bl" headers="fr2 h5">82</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" colspan="3" id="fr3" axis="group">Hottentot Family</th> + <td class="bl" headers="fr3 h2">3</td> + <td class="bl" headers="fr3 h3">83</td> + <td class="bl" headers="fr3 h4">68</td> + <td class="bl" headers="fr3 h5">75</td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> + <tr class="bb"> + <th class="left smcap" id="fr4" axis="group">Alforean Family—</th> + <td class="left" colspan="2" id="fr41" axis="race">Australians</td> + <td class="bl" headers="fr41 h2">8</td> + <td class="bl" headers="fr41 h3">83</td> + <td class="bl" headers="fr41 h4">63</td> + <td class="bl" headers="fr41 h5">75</td> + <td class="bl"></td> + </tr> +</tbody> +</table> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page467" id="page467">[Pg 467]</a></span> +Dr. Morton's mind, it will be seen by this table, +had not yet freed itself from the incubus of artificial +and unnatural classifications. Like Tiedemann and +others, he has grouped together races which have not +the slightest affinity in physical, moral, or linguistic +characters. In the <em>Caucasian</em> group, for example, +are placed the Teutonic, Indostanic, Shemitic, and Nilotic +families, each of which, it can be shown, has +existed utterly distinct for 5000 years, not to mention +many subdivisions.</p> + +<p>The table of Dr. Morton affords some curious results. +His ancient Pelasgic heads and those of the modern +white races, give the same size of brain, viz: 88 cubic +inches; and his ancient Egyptians and their modern +representatives, the Fellahs, yield the same mean, 80 +cubic inches; the difference between the two groups +being 8 cubic inches. These facts have a strong +bearing on the question of <em>permanence</em> of types. The +small-headed Hindoos present the same cranial capacity +as the Egyptians, and though these races have each +been the repository of early civilization, it is a question +whether either was the originator of civilization. The +Egyptian race, from the earliest monumental dawn, +exhibits Shemitic adulteration; and Latham proves that +the Sanscrit language was not indigenous to India, but +was carried there from Northern Europe in early ages +by conquerors.</p> + +<p>Again, in the negro group, while it is absolutely +shown that certain African races, whether born in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page468" id="page468">[Pg 468]</a></span> +Africa, or of the tenth descent in America, give a +cranial capacity almost identical, 83 cubic inches; we +see, on the contrary, the Hottentot and Australian +yielding a mean of but 75 inches, thereby showing a +like difference of eight cubic inches.</p> + +<p>In the American group, also, the same parallel holds +good. The Toltecan family, the most civilized race, +exhibit a mean of but 77 inches, while the barbarous +tribes give 84, that is, a difference of 7 inches in favor +of the savage. While, however, the Toltecans have +the smaller heads, they are, according to Combe, much +more developed in the anterior or <em>intellectual</em> lobes, +which may serve to explain this apparent paradox.</p> + +<p>When we compare the highest and lowest races with +each other, the contrast becomes still more striking, +viz: the Teutonic with the Hottentot and Australian. +The former family gives a mean capacity of 92 inches, +while the latter two yield but 75, or a difference of <em>17 +cubic inches</em> between the skulls of these types!</p> + +<p>Now, as far back as history and monuments carry us, +as well as crania and other testimonies, these various +types have been <em>permanent</em>; and most of them we can +trace back several thousand years. If such permanence +of type through thousands of years, and in defiance of +all climatic influences, does not establish <em>specific</em> characters, +then is the naturalist at sea without a compass +to guide him.</p> + +<p>These facts determine clearly the arbitrary nature of +all classifications heretofore adopted; the Teuton, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page469" id="page469">[Pg 469]</a></span> +Jew, the Hindoo, the Egyptian, &c., have all been +included under the term <em>Caucasian</em>; and yet they have, +as far as we know, been through all time as distinct +in physical and moral characters from each other, as +they have from the negro races of Africa and Oceanica. +The same diversity of types is found among all the +other groups, or arbitrary divisions of the human family.</p> + +<p>Rich and rare as is the collection of Dr. Morton, it +is very defective in many of its divisions, and it occurred +to me that this deficiency might to some degree be supplied +by the hat manufacturers of various nations; +notwithstanding that the information derived from this +source could give but one measurement, viz: the <em>horizontal +periphery</em>. Yet this one measurement alone, on +an extended scale, would go far towards determining +the general size of the brain. I accordingly applied to +three hat dealers in Mobile, and a large manufacturer +in New Jersey, for statements of the relative number of +hats of each size sold to adult males; their tables agree +so perfectly as to leave no doubt as to the circumference +of the heads of the white population of the +United States. The three houses together dispose of +about 15,000 hats annually.</p> + +<p>The following table was obligingly sent me by +Messrs. Vail & Yates, of Newark; and they accompanied +it with the remark, that their hats were sent +principally to our Western States, where there is a +large proportion of German population; also that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page470" id="page470">[Pg 470]</a></span> +sizes of these hats were a little larger (about one fourth +of an inch) than those sold in the Southern States. +This remark was confirmed by the three dealers in +Mobile. Our table gives, 1st. The number or size of +the hat. 2d. The circumference of the head corresponding. +3d. The circumference of the hat; and lastly, the +relative proportion of each No. sold out of 12 hats.</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table title="Number of hats sold vs. size of hat and circumference of head" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" +summary="One-half of hats sold in the Western states are sizes 7-1/8 or 7-1/4"> + <tr> + <th scope="col" style="padding-left:1em">Size—inches.</th> + <th scope="col" style="padding-left:1em">Circum. of head.</th> + <th scope="col" style="padding-left:1em">Circum. of hat.</th> + <th scope="col" style="padding-left:1em">Relative prop. in 12.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>6⅞</td> + <td>21⅝</td> + <td>22⅜</td> + <td>1</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>7</td> + <td>22</td> + <td>22¾</td> + <td>2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>7⅛</td> + <td>22⅜</td> + <td>23⅛</td> + <td>3</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>7¼</td> + <td>22¾</td> + <td>23½</td> + <td>3</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>7⅜</td> + <td>23⅛</td> + <td>23⅞</td> + <td>2</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td>7½</td> + <td>23½</td> + <td>24¼</td> + <td>1</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + + +<p>All hats larger than these are called "extra sizes."</p> + +<p>The average size, then, of the crania of white races +in the United States, is about 22½ inches circumference, +including the hair and scalp, for which about +1½ inches should be deducted, leaving a mean horizontal +periphery, for adult males, of 21 inches. The +measurements of the purest Teutonic races in Germany +and other countries, would give a larger mean; and I +have reason to believe that the population of France, +which is principally Celtic, would yield a smaller mean. +I hope that others will extend these observations.</p> + +<p>Dr. Morton's measurements of aboriginal American +races, give a mean of but 19½ inches; and this statement +is greatly strengthened by the fact that the +Mexicans and other Indian races wear much smaller<span class="pagenum"><a name="page471" id="page471">[Pg 471]</a></span> +hats than our white races. (See <cite>Types of Mankind</cite>, p. +289 and 453.)</p> + +<p>Prof. Tiedemann, of Heidelberg, asserts that the head +of the negro is as large as that of the white man, but +this we have shown to be an error. (<cite>Types of Mankind</cite>, +p. 453.)</p> + +<p>Tiedemann adopted the vulgar error of grouping +together under the term <em>Caucasian</em>, all the Indo-Germanic, +Shemitic, and Nilotic races; also all the black +and dark races of Africa under the term <em>Negro</em>. Now +I have shown that the Hindoo and Egyptian races +possess about 12 cubic inches less of brain than the +Teutonic; and the Hottentots about 8 inches less than +the Negro proper. I affirm that no valid reason has +ever been assigned why the Teuton and Hindoo, or +Hottentot and Negro, should be classed together in +their cranial measurements. I can discover no facts +which can assign a greater age to one of these races +than another; and unless Professor Tiedemann can +overcome these difficulties, he has no right to assume +identity for the various races he is pleased to group +under each of his arbitrary divisions. Mummies from +the catacombs, and portraits on the monuments, show +that the heads of races on both sides of the Red Sea +have remained unchanged 4000 years.</p> + +<p>As Dr. Morton tabulated his skulls on the same +arbitrary basis, I abandon his arrangement and present +his facts as they stand in nature, allowing the reader to +compare and judge for himself. The following table<span class="pagenum"><a name="page472" id="page472">[Pg 472]</a></span> +gives the <em>internal capacity</em> in cubic inches, and it will be +seen that the measurements arrange themselves in a +sliding scale of 17 cubic inches from the Teuton down +to the Hottentot and Australian.</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table title="Average Internal Capacity of the brains of various races" +cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" +summary="The modern white races (specifically the Teutonic group) have the largest internal mean +brain capacity, while Australians have the lowest"> +<caption>Internal Capacity of Brain in Cubic Inches.</caption> +<thead> + <tr> + <th id="h1">RACES.</th> + <th scope="col" colspan="2">Internal capacity.<br />Mean.</th> + <th scope="col">Internal capacity.<br />Mean.</th> + </tr> +</thead> +<tbody> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap">Modern White Races—</th> + <td colspan="3"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left cindent" id="r1">Teutonic group</td> + <td class="right" headers="r1">92</td> + <td></td> + <td headers="r1">92</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left cindent" id="r2">Pelasgic group</td> + <td class="right" headers="r2">84</td> + <td style="width: 13%; text-align:left;" rowspan="3"><span style="font-size:400%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.5em;text-indent:0;">}</span></td> + <td rowspan="3" headers="r2 r3 r4">88</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left cindent" id="r3">Celtic group</td> + <td class="right" headers="r3">87</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left cindent" id="r4">Shemitic group</td> + <td class="right" headers="r4">89</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" id="r5">Ancient Pelasgic</th> + <td class="right" headers="r5">88</td> + <td colspan="2"></td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" id="r6">Malays</th> + <td class="right" headers="r6">85</td> + <td style="width: 13%; text-align:left;" rowspan="2"><span style="font-size:300%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.5em;text-indent:0;">}</span></td> + <td rowspan="2" headers="r6 r7">83½</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" id="r7">Chinese</th> + <td class="right" headers="r7">82</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" id="r8">Negroes (African)</th> + <td class="right" headers="r8">83</td> + <td></td> + <td headers="r8">83</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" id="r9">Indostanese</th> + <td class="right" headers="r9">80</td> + <td style="width: 13%; text-align:left;" rowspan="3"><span style="font-size:400%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.5em;text-indent:0;">}</span></td> + <td rowspan="3" headers="r9 r10 r11">80</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left" id="r10"><span class="smcap">Fellahs</span> (modern Egyptians)</th> + <td class="right" headers="r10">80</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left" id="r11"><span class="smcap">Egyptians</span> (ancient)</th> + <td class="right" headers="r8">80</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap">American Group—</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left cindent" id="r12">Toltecan family</td> + <td class="right" headers="r12">77</td> + <td style="width: 13%; text-align:left;" rowspan="2"><span style="font-size:300%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.5em;text-indent:0;">}</span></td> + <td rowspan="2" headers="r12 r13">79</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="left cindent" id="r13">Barbarous tribes</td> + <td class="right" headers="r13">84</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" id="r14">Hottentots</th> + <td class="right" headers="r14">75</td> + <td style="width: 13%; text-align:left;" rowspan="2"><span style="font-size:300%;font-weight:lighter;margin:0;line-height:.5em;text-indent:0;">}</span></td> + <td rowspan="2" headers="r14 r15">75</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th class="left smcap" id="r15">Australians</th> + <td class="right" headers="r15">75</td> + </tr> +</tbody> +</table> +</div> + + +<p>Such has been, through several thousand years, the +incessant commingling of races, that we are free to +admit that absolute accuracy in measurements of crania +cannot now be attained. Yet so constant are the +results in contrasting groups, that no unprejudiced +mind can deny that there is a wide and well-marked +disparity in the cranial developments of races.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page473" id="page473">[Pg 473]</a></span></p> + +<h3><a name="B" id="B"></a>B.</h3> + + +<p>As the discussion stands at the present day, we may +assume that the scientific world is pretty equally divided +on the question of unity of the human family, +and the point is to be settled by facts, and not by +names. Natural history is a comparatively new and +still rapidly progressing science, and the study of man +has been one of the last departments to attract serious +attention. Blumenbach and Prichard, who may be +regarded among the early explorers in this vast field, +have but recently been numbered with the dead; and +we may safely assert that the last ten years have +brought forth materials which have shed an entirely new +light on this subject.</p> + +<p>Mr. Agassiz, Dr. Morton, Prof. Leidy, and many +other naturalists of the United States, contend for an +original diversity in the races of men, and we shall +proceed to give some of the reasons why we have +adopted similar views. Two of the latest writers of +any note on the opposite side are the Rev. Dr. Bachman, +of Charleston, and M. Flourens, of Paris; and +as these gentlemen have very fully travelled over the +argument opposed to us, we shall take the liberty, +in the course of our remarks, to offer some objections +to their views.</p> + +<p>The great difficulty in this discussion is, to define<span class="pagenum"><a name="page474" id="page474">[Pg 474]</a></span> +clearly what meaning should be attached to the term +<em>species</em>; and to the illustration of this point, mainly, +will our labors be confined. <em>Genera</em> are, for the most +part, well defined by <em>anatomical</em> characters, and little +dispute exists respecting them; but no successful attempt +has yet been made to designate <em>species</em> in this +way, and it is by their <em>permanency of type alone</em>, as +ascertained from written or monumental records, that +our decision can be guided.</p> + + +<h4>SPECIES.</h4> + +<p>The following definitions of species have been selected +by Dr. Bachman, and may be received as unexceptionable +as any others; but we shall show that they +fall far short of the true difficulties of the case.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"We are under the necessity of admitting the existence of +certain forms, which have perpetuated themselves, from the +beginning of the world, without exceeding the limits prescribed: +all the individuals belonging to one of these forms constitute a +<em>species</em>."—<cite class="author">Cuvier.</cite></p> + +<p>"We unite under the designation species all those individuals +who mutually bear to each other so close a resemblance as to +allow of our supposing that they may have proceeded originally +from a single being, or a single pair."—<cite class="author">De Candolle.</cite></p> + +<p>"The name species is applied to an assemblage of individuals +which bear a strong resemblance to each other, and which are +perpetuated with the same essential qualities. Thus man, the +dog, the horse, constitute to the zoologist so many distinct species."—<cite class="author">Milne +Edwards</cite> and <cite class="author">Achille Compte</cite>.</p></blockquote> + +<p>We have no objection to this definition, but the examples +cited are points in dispute, and not received by +many of the leading naturalists of the day.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page475" id="page475">[Pg 475]</a></span> +"Species are fixed and permanent forms of being, exhibiting +indeed certain modes of variation, of which they may be more +or less susceptible, but maintaining throughout those modifications +a sameness of structural essentials, transmitted from generation +to generation, and never lost by the influence of causes +which otherwise produce obvious effects. <em>Varieties</em> are either +accidental or the result of the care and culture of man."<a name="FNanchor-198" id="FNanchor-198"></a><a href="#Footnote-198" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 198.">[198]</a>—<cite class="author">Martin.</cite></p></blockquote> + +<p>Dr. Bachman gives another, substantially the same, +from Agassiz; and also one of his own, to which he +appends, as an additional test of species, the production +of "<em>fertile offspring by association</em>." In this definition +the doctor <em>assumes</em> one of the main points in +dispute.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"<em>Varieties</em>," says Dr. Bachman, "are those that are produced +within the limits of particular species, and have not existed +from its origin. They sometimes originate in wild species, especially +those that have a wide geographical range, and are thus +exposed to change of climate and temperature," &c. * * * +"<em>Permanent varieties</em> are such as, having once taken place, are +propagated in perpetuity, and do not change their characteristics +unless they breed with other varieties."</p></blockquote> + +<p>We may remark that the existence of such <em>permanent +varieties</em> as here described is also in dispute.</p> + +<p>The same author continues:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"On comparing these definitions, as given by various naturalists, +each in his own language, it will be perceived that there is +no essential difference in the various views expressed in regard +to the characters by which a species is designated. They all +regard it as 'the lowest term to which we descend, with the exception +of <em>varieties</em>, such as are seen in domestic animals.' They +are, to examine the external and internal organization of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page476" id="page476">[Pg 476]</a></span> +animal or plant—they are, to compare it with kindred species, +and if by this examination they are found to possess <em>permanent +characters differing from those of other species, it proves itself to be +a distinct species</em>. When this fact is satisfactorily ascertained, and +the specimen is not found a domestic species, in which varieties +always occur, presumptive evidence is afforded of its having had +a primordial existence. We infer this from the fact that no +species is the production of blind chance, and that within the +<em>knowledge of history</em> no true species, but <em>varieties</em> only, whose +origin can be <em>distinctly traced to existing and well-known species</em>, +have made their appearance in the world. This, then, is the +only means within the knowledge of man by which any species +of plant or animal <em>can be shown</em> to be primordial. The peculiar +form and characters designated the species, and its origin was a +necessary inference derived from the characters stamped on it +by the hand of the Creator."</p></blockquote> + +<p>To all the positions thus far taken by Dr. Bachman, +we most cheerfully subscribe; they are strictly scientific, +and by such <ins class="correction" title="Transcriber's note: Corrected typo 'criterea'">criteria</ins> alone do we desire to test the +unity of the human family; but we must enter a decided +demurrer to the assertion which follows, viz: that, "according +to the universally received definition of species, +all the individuals of the human race are proved to be +of one species." When it shall be shown that all the +races of men, dogs, horses, cattle, wolves, foxes, &c., +are "varieties only, <em>whose origin can be distinctly traced +to existing and well-known species</em>," we may then yield +the point; but we must be permitted to say that Dr. +Bachman is the only naturalist, as far as we know, who +has assumed to know these original types.</p> + +<p>Now, if the reader will turn back and review carefully +all the definitions of species cited, he will perceive<span class="pagenum"><a name="page477" id="page477">[Pg 477]</a></span> +that they are not based upon <em>anatomical characters</em>, but +simply on the <em>permanency</em> of certain organic forms, +and that this permanence of form is determined by its +<em>history</em> alone.</p> + +<p>Professor Owen, of London, has thrown the weight +of his great name into the scale, and tells us that "man +is the sole species of his genus, the sole representative +of his order." But proving that man is not a monkey, +as the professor has done in the lecture alluded to, does +not prove that men are all of <em>one</em> species, according to +any definition yet received: he has made the assertion, +but has assigned no scientific reasons to sustain it. No +one would be more rejoiced than ourselves, to see the +great talent and learning of Professor Owen brought +fully to bear on this point; but, like most naturalists, +he has overlooked one of the most important points in +this discussion—<em>the monumental history of man</em>.</p> + +<p>Will Professor Owen or Dr. Bachman tell us wherein +the lion and tiger—the dog, wolf, fox, and jackal—the +fossil horse, and living species—the Siberian mammoth +and the Indian elephant, differ more from each other +than the white man and the negro? Are not all these +regarded by naturalists as distinct species, and yet who +pretends to be able to distinguish the skeleton of one +from the other by specific characters?</p> + +<p>The examples just cited, of living species, have been +decided upon simply from their permanency of type, as +derived from their history; and we say that, by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page478" id="page478">[Pg 478]</a></span> +same process of reasoning, the races of men depicted +on the monuments of Egypt, five thousand years ago, +and which have maintained their types through all time +and all climates since, are <em>distinct species</em>.</p> + +<p>Dr. Morton defines species—"a primordial organic +form," and determines these forms by their permanence +through all human records; and Mr. Agassiz, who +adopts this definition, adds: "Species are thus distinct +forms of organic life, the origin of which is lost in the +primitive establishment of the state of things now existing; +and varieties are such modification of the species +as may return to the typical form under temporary +influences."</p> + +<p>Dr. Bachman objects very strongly to this definition, +and declares it a "cunning device, and, to all intents, +an <i>ex post facto</i> law," suddenly conjured up during a +controversy, to avoid the difficulties of the case; but +we have serious doubts whether these gentlemen are +capable of such subterfuge in matters of science, +and confess that we cannot see any substantial difference +between their definition and those given by +Dr. Bachman. Morton and Agassiz determine a form +to be "<em>primordial</em>" by its permanency, as proved by +history, and the other definitions assign no other +test.</p> + +<p>Professor Leidy, who has not only studied the "lower +departments of zoology," like Mr. Agassiz, but also +the "higher forms of animal life," says that "too<span class="pagenum"><a name="page479" id="page479">[Pg 479]</a></span> +much importance has been attached to the term species," +and gives the following definition: "A species +of plant or animal may be defined to be an immutable +organic form, whose characteristic distinctions may +always be recognized by <em>a study of its history</em>."<a name="FNanchor-199" id="FNanchor-199"></a><a href="#Footnote-199" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 199.">[199]</a></p> + +<p>M. Jourdain, under the head "Espèce," in his <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Dictionnaire +des Termes des Sciences Naturelles</cite>, after citing +a long list of definitions from leading authors, concludes +with the following remarks, which, as the question +now stands before the world, places the term species +just where it should be:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"It is evident that we can, among organized bodies, regard as +a <em>species</em> only such a collection of beings as resemble each other +more than they resemble others, and which, by a consent more +or less unanimous, it is agreed to designate by a common name; +for a <em>species</em> is but a simple <em>abstraction of the mind</em>, and not a +group, exactly determined by nature herself, as ancient as she +is, and of which she has irrevocably traced the limits. It is in +the definition of species that we recognize how far the influence +of ideas adopted without examination in youth is powerful in +obscuring the most simple ideas of general physics."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Although not written with the expectation of publication, +I will take the liberty of publishing the following +private letter just received from Prof. Leidy. He +has not appeared at all in this controversy before the +public, and we may safely say that no one can be better +qualified than he is to express an opinion on this question +of species.</p> + +<blockquote><p> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page480" id="page480">[Pg 480]</a></span> +"With all the contention about the question of what constitutes +a <em>species</em>, there appears to be almost no difficulty, comparatively, +in its practical recognition. Species of plants and animals +are daily determined, and the characters which are given to distinguish +them are viewed by the great body of naturalists as +sufficient. All the definitions, however, which have been given +for a species, are objectionable. Morton says: 'A species is a +primordial organic form.' But how shall we distinguish the +latter? How can it be proved that any existing forms primordially +were distinct? In my attempted definition, I think, I +fail, for I only direct how species are discovered.</p> + +<p>"According to the practical determination of a species by +naturalists, in a late number of the <cite>Proceedings</cite> of our Academy +(vol. vii. p. 201), I observe: 'A species is a mere convenient +word with which naturalists empirically designate groups of +organized beings possessing characters of comparative constancy, +as far as historic experience has guided them in giving +due weight to such constancy.'</p> + +<p>"According to this definition, the races of men are evidently +distinct species. But it may be said that the definition is given +to suit the circumstances. So it is, and so it should be; or, if +not, then all characterized species should conform to an arbitrary +definition. The species of gypætus, haliætus, tanagra, +and of many other genera of birds, are no more distinguishable +than the species of men; and, I repeat, the anatomy of one +species of haliætus, or of any other genus, will answer for that +of all the other species of the same genus. The same is the +case with mammals. One species of felis, ursus, or equus will +give the exact anatomy of all the other species in each genus, +just as you may study the anatomy of the white man upon the +black man. While Prof. Richard Owen will compare the orang +with man, and therefore deduce all races of the latter to be of +one species, he divides the genus cervus into several other +genera, and yet there is no difference in their internal anatomy; +while he considers the horse and the ass as two distinct genera, +and says that a certain fossil horse-tooth, carefully compared +with the corresponding tooth of the recent horse, showed no differences, +excepting in being a little more curved, he considers it +a distinct species, under the name of equus curvidens; and yet,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page481" id="page481">[Pg 481]</a></span> +with differences of greater value in the jaws of the negro and +white man, he considers them the same.</p> + +<p>"In the restricted genera of vertebrata of modern naturalists, +the specific characters are founded on the external appendages, +for the most part—differences in the scales, horns, antlers, +feathers, hairs, or bills. Just as you separate the black and +white man by the difference in the color of the skin and the +character of the hair, so do we separate the species of bears, or +cats, &c.</p> + +<p>"<em class="smcap">Philadelphia</em>, <i>April 18, 1855</i>."</p></blockquote> + +<p>We might thus go on and multiply, to the extent of +an octavo volume, evidence to show how vague and unsettled +is the term species among naturalists, and that, +when we abandon historical records, we have no reliable +guide left. Moreover, were we able to establish perfectly +reliable landmarks between species, we still have +no means of determining whether they were originally +created in one pair, or many pairs. The latter is certainly +the most rational supposition: there is every +reason to believe that the earth and the sea brought +forth "<em>abundantly</em>" of each species.</p> + +<p>It must be clear to the reader, from the evidence +above adduced, that Dr. Bachman claims far too much +when he asserts that—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Naturalists can be found, in Europe and America, who, +without any <em>vain boast</em>, can distinguish every species of bird and +quadruped on their separate continents; and the characters +which distinguish and separate the several species are as distinct +and infallible as are those which form the genera."<a name="FNanchor-200" id="FNanchor-200"></a><a href="#Footnote-200" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 200.">[200]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page482" id="page482">[Pg 482]</a></span> +And, again, when he says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"From the opportunities we have enjoyed in the examination +of the varieties and species of domesticated quadrupeds and +birds, we have never found any difficulty in deciding on the species +to which these varieties belong."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Those of us who are still groping in darkness certainly +have a right to ask who are the authorities +alluded to, and what are those "characters which distinguish +and separate species" as distinctly and infallibly +as "genera?" They are certainly not in print.</p> + +<p>The doctor must pardon us for reminding him that +there is printed evidence that his own mind is not +always free from doubts. In the introduction of Audubon +and Bachman's <cite>Quadrupeds of America</cite>, p. vii., +it is said:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Although <em>genera</em> may be easily ascertained by the forms and +dental arrangements peculiar to each, many <em>species</em> so nearly +approach each other in size, while they are so variable in color, +that it is exceedingly difficult to separate them with positive +certainty."</p></blockquote> + +<p>Again, in speaking of the genus <i>vulpes</i> (foxes), the +same work says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The characters of this genus differ so slightly from those of +the genus <i>canis</i>, that we are induced to pause before removing +it from the sub-genus in which it had so long remained. As a +general rule, we are obliged to <em>admit that a large fox is a wolf, +and a small wolf may be termed a fox</em>. So inconveniently large, +however, is the list of species in the old genus <i>canis</i>, that it is, +we think, advisable to separate into distinct groups such species +as possess any characters different from true wolves."</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page483" id="page483">[Pg 483]</a></span>Speaking of the origin of the domestic dog, Dr. Bachman, +in his work on <cite>Unity of Races</cite>, p. 63, says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Notwithstanding all these difficulties—and we confess we +are not free from some doubts in regard to their identity (dog +and wolf)—if we were called upon to decide on any wild species +as the progenitor of our dogs, we would sooner fix upon the +large wolf than on any other dog, hyena, or jackal," &c.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The doctor is unable, here at least (and we can point +out many other cases), to "designate species;" and the +recent investigations of Flourens, at the <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Jardin des +Plantes</cite>, prove him wrong as regards the origin of the +dog. The dog is not derived from the "large wolf," +but, with it, produces hybrids, sterile after the third +generation. The dog forms a genus apart.</p> + +<p>We repeat, then, that in a large number of <em>genera</em>, the +species cannot be separated by any anatomical characters, +and that it is from their history alone naturalists +have arrived at those minute divisions now generally +received. We may, without the fear of contradiction, +go a step further, and assert that several of the races of +men are as widely separated in physical organization, +physiological and psychological characters, as are the +canidæ, equidæ, felines, elephants, bears and others. +When the white races of Europe, the Mongols of Asia, +the aborigines of America, the black races of Africa +and Oceanica are placed beside each other, they are +marked by stronger differences than are the species of +the genera above named. It has been objected that +these gaps are filled by intermediate links which make<span class="pagenum"><a name="page484" id="page484">[Pg 484]</a></span> +the chain complete from one extremity to the other. +The admission of the fact does not invalidate our position, +for we have shown elsewhere (see <cite>Types of Mankind</cite>) +<em>gradation</em> is the law of nature. The extreme +types, we have proven, have been distinct for more than +5000 years, and no existing causes during that time +have transformed one type into another. The well-marked +negro type, for example, stands face to face +with the white type on the monuments of Egypt; and +they differ more from each other than the dog and +wolf, ass and <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Equis Hemionus</i>, lion and tiger, &c. +The hair and skin, the size and shape of head, the +pelvis, the extremities, and other points, separate certain +African and Oceanican negroes more widely than the +above species. This will not be questioned, whatever +difference of opinion may exist with regard to the permanency +of these forms. In the language of Prof. +Leidy, "the question to be determined is, whether the +differences in the races of men are as permanent and of +as much value as those which characterize species in +the lower genera of animals." These races of men too +are governed by the same laws of geographical distribution, +as the species of the lower genera; they are +found, as far back as history can trace them, as widely +separated as possible, and surrounded by local Floræ +and Faunæ.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page485" id="page485">[Pg 485]</a></span></p> + +<h4>VARIETIES.</h4> + +<p>This term is very conveniently introduced to explain +all the difficulties which embarrass this discussion. +Dr. Bachman insists that all the races of men are mere +<em>varieties</em>, and sustains the opinion by a repetition of +those analogies which have been so often drawn from +the animal kingdom by Prichard and his school. It +is well known that those animals which have been +domesticated undergo, in a few generations, very remarkable +changes in color, form, size, habits, &c. For +example, all the hogs, black, white, brown, gray, +spotted, &c., now found scattered over the earth, have, +it is said, their parentage in one pair of wild hogs. +"This being admitted," says Dr. B. "we invite the advocates +of plurality in the human species to show wherein +these varieties are less striking than their eight (alluding +to Agassiz) originally created nations." Again—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"And how has the discovery been made that all the permanent +races are mere varieties, and not 'originally created' +species, or 'primitive varieties?' Simply because the naturalists +of Germany, finding that the original wild hog still exists +in their forests, have, in a thousand instances, reclaimed them +from the woods. By this means they have discovered that their +descendants, <em>after a few generations</em>, lose their ferocity, assume +all colors," &c.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The same reasoning is applied to horses, cattle, +goats, sheep, &c., while many, if not most of the best +naturalists of the day deny that we know anything of +the origin of our domestic animals. Geoffroy St.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page486" id="page486">[Pg 486]</a></span> +Hilaire, in his work, just out, denies it in toto. We +are, however, for the sake of argument, willing to +admit all the examples, and all he claims with regard +to the origin of endless varieties in domesticated +animals.<a name="FNanchor-201" id="FNanchor-201"></a><a href="#Footnote-201" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 201.">[201]</a></p> + +<p>Let us, on the other hand, "invite the advocates of +<em>unity</em> of the human species" to say when and where +such varieties have sprung up in the human family. +We not only have the written history of man for 2000 +years, but his monumental history for 2000 more; and +yet, while the naturalists of Germany are catching wild +hogs, and recording in a thousand instances "after a +few generations" these wonderful changes, no one has +yet pointed out anything analogous in the human +family; the porcupine family in England, a few spotted +Mexicans, &c., do not meet the case; history records +the origin of no permanent variety. No race of men +has in the same country turned black, brown, gray, +white, and spotted. The negroes in America have not +in ten generations turned to all colors, though fully<span class="pagenum"><a name="page487" id="page487">[Pg 487]</a></span> +<em>domesticated</em>, like pigs and turkeys. The Jews in all +countries for 2000 years are still Jews. The gypsies +are everywhere still gypsies. In India, the different +castes, of different colors, have been living together +several thousand years, and are still distinct, &c. &c.</p> + +<p>Nor does domestication affect all animals and fowls +equally; compare the camel, ass, and deer, with the +hog and dog; the Guinea fowl, pea fowl, and goose, +with pigeons, turkeys, and common fowls. In fact, no +one animal can be taken as an analogue for another: +each has its own physiological laws; each is influenced +differently and in different degrees by the same external +influences. How, then, can an animal be taken as an +analogue for man?</p> + +<p>We have also abundant authority to show that all +wild species do not present the same uniformity in external +characters.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"All packs of American wolves usually consist of various +shades of color, and varieties nearly black have been occasionally +found in every part of the United States.... In +a gang of wolves which existed in Colleton District, South Carolina, +a few years ago (sixteen of which were killed by hunters +in eighteen months), we were informed that about one-fifth were +black, and the others of every shade of color, from black to +dusky gray and yellowish white."—<cite class="author">Audubon & Bachman</cite>, 2d +Amer. ed., vol. ii. pp. 130-1.</p></blockquote> + +<p>Speaking of the white American wolf, the same +authors say:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Their gait and movements are precisely the same as those +of the common dog, and their mode of copulating and number +of young brought forth at a litter, are about the same." (It might<span class="pagenum"><a name="page488" id="page488">[Pg 488]</a></span> +have been added that their number of bones, teeth, whole anatomical +structure are the same.) "The diversity of their size +and color is remarkable, no two being quite alike."... +"The wolves of the prairies ... produce from six to eleven at +a birth, of which there are very seldom two alike in color."—<cite>Op. +cit.</cite>, p. 159.</p> + +<p>"The common American wolf, Richardson observes, sometimes +shows remarkable diversity of color. On the banks of +the Mackenzie River I saw five young wolves leaping and tumbling +over each other with all the playfulness of the puppies of +the domestic dog, and it is not improbable they were all of one +litter. One of them was pied, another black, and the rest +showed the colors of the common gray wolves."</p></blockquote> + +<p>The same diversity is seen in the prairie wolf, and +naturalists have been much embarrassed in classifying +the various wolves on account of colors, size, &c.</p> + +<p>All this is independent of <em>domestication</em>, and shows +the uncertainty of analogues; and still it is remarkable +that though considerable variety exists in the native +dogs of America in color and size, they do not run +into the thousand grotesque forms seen on the old +continent, where a much greater mixture exists. The +dogs of America, like the aboriginal races of men, are +comparatively uniform. In the East, where various +races have come together, the men, like the dogs, present +endless varieties, Egypt, Assyria, India, &c.</p> + +<p>Let us suppose that one variety of hog had been +discovered in Africa, one in Asia, one in Europe, one +in Australia, another in America, as well marked as +those Dr. B. describes; that these varieties had been +transferred to other climates as have been Jews,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page489" id="page489">[Pg 489]</a></span> +gypsies, negroes, &c., and had remained for ages +without change of form or color, would they be considered +as distinct species or not?—can any one doubt? +The rule must work both ways, or the argument falls to +the ground.</p> + +<p>In fact the Dr. himself makes admissions which fully +refute his whole theory.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Whilst," says he, "we are willing to allow some weight to +the argument advanced by President Smyth, who endeavors to +account for the varieties in man from the combined influences +of three causes, 'climate, the state of society, and manner of +living,' we are free to admit that it is impossible to account for +the varieties in the human family from the causes which he has +assigned."<a name="FNanchor-202" id="FNanchor-202"></a><a href="#Footnote-202" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 202.">[202]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>The Dr. further admits, in the same work, that the +races have been <em>permanent</em> since the time of the old +Egyptian empire, and <em>supposes</em> that at some extremely +remote time, of which we have no record, that "they +were more susceptible of producing varieties than at a +later period." These suppositions answer a very good +purpose in theology, but do not meet the requirements +of science.</p> + + +<h4>HYBRIDITY.</h4> + +<p>Having shown the insufficiency of all the other +arguments in establishing the landmarks of <em>species</em>, let +us now turn to those based on <em>hybridity</em>, which seems +to be the last stronghold of the unity party. On this<span class="pagenum"><a name="page490" id="page490">[Pg 490]</a></span> +point hang all the difficulties of M. Gobineau, and had +he been posted up to date here, his doubts would all +have vanished. The last twelve months have added +some very important facts to those previously published, +and we shall, with as little detail as possible, +present the subject in its newest light.</p> + +<p>It is contended that when two animals of distinct +species, or, in other words, of distinct origin, are bred +together, they produce a hybrid which is <em>infertile</em>, or +which at least becomes sterile in a few generations if +preserved free from admixture with the parent stocks. +It is assumed that unlimited prolificness is a certain test +of community of origin.</p> + +<p>We, on the contrary, contend that there is no abrupt +line of demarcation; that no complete laws of hybridity +have yet been established; that there is a <em>regular +gradation</em> in the prolificness of the species, and that, +according to the best lights we now possess, there is a +continued series from perfect sterility to perfect prolificacy. +The degrees may be expressed in the following +language:—</p> + +<p>1. That in which hybrids never reproduce; in other +words, where the mixed progeny begins and ends with +the first cross.</p> + +<p>2. That in which the hybrids are incapable of producing +<i>inter se</i>, but multiply by union with the parent +stock.</p> + +<p>3. That in which animals of unquestionably distinct<span class="pagenum"><a name="page491" id="page491">[Pg 491]</a></span> +species produce a progeny which are prolific <i>inter se</i>, +but have a tendency to run out.</p> + +<p>4. That which takes place between closely proximate +species; among mankind, for example, and among those +domestic animals most essential to human wants and +happiness; here the prolificacy is unlimited.</p> + +<p>It seems to be a law that in those genera where +several or many species exist, there is a certain gradation +which is shown in degrees of hybridity; some +having greater affinity than others. Experiments are +still wanting to make our knowledge perfect, but we +know enough to establish our points.</p> + +<p>There are many points we have not space to dwell +on, as the relative influence of the male and female on +the offspring; the tendency of one species to predominate +over another; the tendency of types to +"crop out" after lying dormant for many generations; +the fact that in certain species some of the progeny +take after one parent and some after the other, while +in other cases the offspring presents a medium type, &c.</p> + +<p>The genus <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Equus</i> (Horse) comprises six species, of +which three belong to Asia, and three to Africa. The +Asiatic species are the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Equus Caballus</i> (Horse), <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Equus +Hemionus</i> (Dzigguetai), and <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Equus Asinus</i> (Ass). +Those of Africa are the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Equus Zebra</i> (Zebra), <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Equus +Montanus</i> (Daw), and the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Equus Quaccha</i> (Quagga). +The horse and ass alone have been submitted to domestication +from time immemorial; the others have +remained wild.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page492" id="page492">[Pg 492]</a></span>It is well known that the horse and ass produce +together an unprolific mule, and as these two species +are the furthest removed from each other in their +physical structure, Dr. Morton long since suggested +that intermediate species bred together would show a +higher degree of prolificness, and this prediction has +been vindicated by experiments recently made in the +Garden of Plants at Paris, where the ass and dzigguetai +have been bred together for the last ten years. +"What is very remarkable, these hybrids differ considerably +from each other; some resemble much more +closely the dzigguetai, others the ass." In regard to +the product of the male dzigguetai and the jenny, Mr. +Geoffroy St. Hilaire says:<a name="FNanchor-203" id="FNanchor-203"></a><a href="#Footnote-203" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 203.">[203]</a>—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Another fact, not less worthy of interest, is the fecundity, if +not of all the mules, at least the firstborn among them; with +regard to this, the fact is certain; he has produced several +times with Jennies, and once with the female dzigguetai, the +only one he has covered."<a name="FNanchor-204" id="FNanchor-204"></a><a href="#Footnote-204" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 204.">[204]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>At a meeting of the "<span xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Société Zoologique d'Acclimation</span>,"</p> + +<blockquote><p xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">M. Richard (du Cantal) "parle des essais de croisements de +l'hémione avec l'anesse, et dit qu'ils ont donnè un mulet beaucoup +<em>plus ardent</em> que l'âne. Il asserte que les produits de +l'hémione avec l'âne, sont féconds, et que le métis, nommé +Polka, à déja produit."</p></blockquote> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page493" id="page493">[Pg 493]</a></span>To what extent the prolificness of these two species +will go is yet to be determined, and there is an unexplored +field still open among the other species of this +genus; it is highly probable that a gradation may be +established from sterility, up to perfect prolificacy.</p> + +<p>Not only do the female ass and the male onager +breed together, but a male offspring of this cross, with +a mare, produces an animal more docile than either +parent, and combining the best physical qualities, +such as strength, speed, &c.; whence the ancients preferred +the onager to the ass, for the production of +mules.<a name="FNanchor-205" id="FNanchor-205"></a><a href="#Footnote-205" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 205.">[205]</a> Mr. Gliddon, who lived upwards of twenty +years in Egypt and other eastern countries, informs me +this opinion is still prevalent in Egypt, and is acted +upon more particularly in Arabia, Persia, &c., where +the <em>gour</em>, or wild ass, still roams the desert. The zebra +has also been several times crossed with the horse.</p> + +<p>The genus <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">canis</i> contains a great many species, as +domestic dogs, wolves, foxes, jackals, &c., and much +discussion exists as to which are really species and +which mere varieties. In this genus experiments in +crossing have been carried a step further than in the +<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Equidæ</i>, but there is much yet to be done. All the +species produce prolific offspring, but how far the +prolificness might extend in each instance is not known; +there is reason to believe that every grade would be<span class="pagenum"><a name="page494" id="page494">[Pg 494]</a></span> +found except that of absolute sterility which is seen +in the offspring of the horse and ass.</p> + +<p>The following facts are given by M. Flourens, and +are the result of his own observations at the <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Jardin des +Plantes</cite>.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The hybrids of the dog and wolf are sterile after the <em>third</em> +generation; those of the jackal and dog, are so after the <em>fourth</em>.</p> + +<p>"Moreover, if one of these hybrids is bred with one of the +primitive species, they soon return, completely and totally, to +this species.</p> + +<p>"My experiments on the crossing of species have given me +opportunities of making a great many observations of this +kind.</p> + +<p>"The union of the dog and jackal produces a hybrid—a mixed +animal, an animal partaking almost equally of the two, but +in which, however, the type of the <em>jackal</em> predominates over +that of the <em>dog</em>.</p> + +<p>"I have remarked, in fact, in my experiments, that all types +are not equally dominant and persistent. The type of the dog +is more persistent than that of the wolf—that of the jackal +more than that of the dog; that of the horse is less than that +of the ass, &c. The hybrid of the dog and the wolf partakes +more of the dog than the wolf; the hybrid of the jackal and +dog, takes more after the jackal than dog; the hybrid of the +horse and the ass partakes less of the horse than the ass; it +has the ears, back, rump, voice of the ass; the horse neighs, +the ass brays, and the mule brays like the ass, &c.</p> + +<p>"The hybrid of the dog and jackal, then, partakes more of +the jackal than dog—it has straight ears, hanging tail, does not +bark, and is wild—it is more jackal than dog.</p> + +<p>"So much for the <strong class="smcap">first</strong> cross product of the dog with the +jackal. I continue to unite, from generation to generation, the +successive products with one of the two primitive stocks—with +that of the dog, for example. The hybrid of the <em>second generation</em> +does not yet bark, but has already the ears pendent at the +ends, and is less savage. The hybrid of the third generation<span class="pagenum"><a name="page495" id="page495">[Pg 495]</a></span> +barks, has the ears pendent, the tail turned up, and is no longer +wild. The hybrid of the <em>fourth generation</em> is entirely a dog.</p> + +<p>"Four generations, then, have sufficed to re-establish one of +the two primitive types—the type of the dog; and four generations +suffice, also, to bring back the other type."<a name="FNanchor-206" id="FNanchor-206"></a><a href="#Footnote-206" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 206.">[206]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>From the foregoing facts, M. Flourens deduces, +without assigning a reason, the following <i>non sequitur</i>:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Thus, then, either hybrids, born of the union of two distinct +species, unite and soon become sterile, or they unite with +one of the parent stocks, and soon return to this type—they in +no case give what may be called a new species, that is to say, +an intermediate durable species."<a name="FNanchor-207" id="FNanchor-207"></a><a href="#Footnote-207" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 207.">[207]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>The dog also produces hybrids with the fox and +hyena, but to what extent has not yet been determined. +The hybrid fox is certainly prolific for several generations.</p> + +<p>There are also bovine, camelline, caprine, ovine, +feline, deer with the ram, and endless other hybrids, +running through the animal kingdom, but they are but +repetitions of the above facts, and experiments are +still far from being complete in establishing the <em>degrees</em> +which attach to each two species. We have abundant +proofs, however, of the three first degrees of hybridity. +1st. Where the hybrid is infertile. 2d. Where it produces +with the parent stock. 3d. Where it is prolific<span class="pagenum"><a name="page496" id="page496">[Pg 496]</a></span> +for one, two, three, or four generations, and then becomes +sterile. Up to this point there is no diversity +of opinion. Let us now inquire what evidence there is +of the existence of the 4th degree, in which hybrids +may form a new and permanent race.</p> + +<p>To show how slow has been our progress in this +question, and what difficulties beset our path, we need +only state that the facts respecting the dog, wolf, and +jackal, quoted above from Flourens, have only been +published within the last twelve months. The identity +of the dog and wolf has heretofore been undetermined, +and the <em>degrees</em> of hybridity of the dog with the wolf +and jackal were before unknown. These experiments +do not extend beyond one species of wolf.</p> + +<p>M. Flourens says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">"<em>Les espèces ne s'altèrent point, ne changent point, ne passent +point de l'une à l'autre; les espèces sont</em> <strong class="smcap">fixés</strong>."</p> + +<p>"If species have a tendency to transformation, to pass one +into another, why has not time, which, in everything, effects all +that can happen, ended by disclosing, by betraying, by implying +this tendency.</p> + +<p>"But time, they may tell me, is wanting. It is not wanting. +It is 2000 years since Aristotle wrote, and we recognize in our +day all the animals which he describes; and we recognize them +by the characters which he assigns.... Cuvier states that +the history of the elephant is more exact in Aristotle than in +Buffon. They bring us every day from Egypt, the remains of +animals which lived there two or three thousand years ago—the +ox, crocodiles, ibis, &c. &c., which are the same as those of the +present day. We have under our eyes <em>human mummies</em>—the +skeleton of that day is identical with that of the Egyptian of +our day."</p></blockquote> + +<p>(M. Flourens might have added that the mummies<span class="pagenum"><a name="page497" id="page497">[Pg 497]</a></span> +of the white and black races show them to have been +as distinct then as now, and that the monumental drawings +represent the different races more than a thousand +years further back.)</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Thus, then, through three thousand years, no species has +changed. An experiment which continues through three thousand +years, is not an experiment to be made—it is an experiment +<em>made</em>. Species do not change."<a name="FNanchor-208" id="FNanchor-208"></a><a href="#Footnote-208" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 208.">[208]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p><em>Permanence of type</em>, then, is the only test which he +can adduce for the designation of species, and he here +comes back plainly to the position we have taken. Let +us now test the races of men by this rule. The white +Asiatic races, the Jew, the Arab, the Egyptian, the +negro, at least, are distinctly figured on the monuments +of Egypt and Assyria, as distinct as they are now, +and <em>time</em> and change of climate have not transformed +any one type into another. In whatever unexplored +regions of the earth the earliest voyagers have gone, +they have found races equally well marked. These +races are all prolific <i>inter se</i>, and there is every reason +to believe that we here find the fourth and last degree +of hybridity. Whether the prolificacy is <em>unlimited</em> between +all the races or species of men is still an unsettled +point, and experiments have not yet been fully and +fairly made to determine the question. The dog and +wolf become sterile at the <em>third</em>. The dog and jackal<span class="pagenum"><a name="page498" id="page498">[Pg 498]</a></span> +at the fourth generation, and who can tell whether the +law of hybridity might not show itself in man, after a +longer succession of generations. There are no observations +yet of this kind in the human family. It is a +common belief in our Southern States, that mulattoes +are less prolific, and attain a less longevity than the +parent stocks. I am convinced of the truth of this remark, +when applied to the mulatto from the strictly +white and black races, and I am equally convinced, +from long personal observation, that the <em>dark</em>-skinned +European races, as Spaniards, Portuguese, Italians, +Basques, &c., mingle much more perfectly with the negroes +than do fair races, thus carrying out the law of +gradation in hybridity. If the mulattoes of New Orleans +and Mobile be compared with those of the +Atlantic States, the fact will become apparent.</p> + +<p>The argument in favor of unlimited prolificacy between +species may be strongly corroborated by an appeal +to the history of our domestic animals, whose +history is involved in the same impenetrable mystery +as that of man. M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire very justly +remarks that we know nothing of the origin of our +domestic animals; because we find wild hogs, goats, +sheep, &c., in certain parts of Europe, several thousand +years subsequent to the early migrations of man, this +does not prove that the domestic come from these wild +ones. The reverse may be the case.<a name="FNanchor-209" id="FNanchor-209"></a><a href="#Footnote-209" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 209.">[209]</a></p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page499" id="page499">[Pg 499]</a></span>We have already made some general observations on +the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">genus canis</i>, whose natural history is most closely +allied to that of man. Let us now inquire whether +the domestic dog is but one species, or whether under +this head have been included many proximate species +of unlimited prolificacy. If we try the question by +<em>permanency of type</em>, like the races of men, and all well-marked +species, the doubt must be yielded.</p> + +<p>There are strong reasons given by Dr. Morton and +other naturalists, for supposing that our common dogs, +independent of mixtures of <em>their</em> various races, may +also have an infusion of the blood of foxes, wolves, +jackals, and even the hyena; thus forming, as we see +every day around us, <em>curs</em> of every possible grade; but +setting aside all this, we have abundant evidence to +show that each zoological province has its original dog, +and, perhaps, not unfrequently several.</p> + +<p>In one chapter on hybridity in the "<cite>Types of Mankind</cite>," +it is shown that our Indian dogs in America +present several well-marked types, unlike any in the +Old World, and which are indigenous to the soil. For +example, the Esquimaux dog, the Hare Indian dog, +the North American dog, and several others. We +have not space here to enter fully into the facts, but +they will be found at length in the work above mentioned. +These dogs, too, are clearly traced to wild +species of this continent.</p> + +<p>In other parts of the world we find other species +equally well marked, but we shall content ourselves with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page500" id="page500">[Pg 500]</a></span> +the facts drawn from the ancient monuments of Egypt. +It is no longer a matter of dispute that as far back, at +least, as the twelfth dynasty, about 2300 years before +Christ, we find the common small dog of Egypt, the +greyhound, the staghound, the turnspit, and several +other types which do not correspond with any dogs +that can now be identified.<a name="FNanchor-210" id="FNanchor-210"></a><a href="#Footnote-210" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 210.">[210]</a> We find, also, the mastiff +admirably portrayed on the monuments of Babylon, +which dog was first brought from the East to Greece +by Alexander the Great, 300 years B. C. The museums +of natural history, also, everywhere abound in the +remains of <em>fossil</em> dogs, which long antedate all living +species.</p> + +<p>The wolf, jackal, and hyena are also found distinctly +drawn on the early monuments of Egypt, and a greyhound, +exactly like the English greyhound, with semi-pendent +ears, is seen on a statue in the Vatican, at Rome. +It is clear, then, that the leading types of dogs of the +present day (and probably all) existed more than four +thousand years ago, and it is equally certain that the +type of a dog, when kept pure, will endure in opposite<span class="pagenum"><a name="page501" id="page501">[Pg 501]</a></span> +climates for ages. Our staghounds, greyhounds, mastiffs, +turnspits, pointers, terriers, &c., are bred for centuries, +not only in Egypt and Europe without losing +their types, but in any climate which does not destroy +them. No one denies that climate influences these animals +greatly, but the greyhound, staghound, or bulldog +can never be transformed into each other.</p> + +<p>The facts above stated cannot be questioned, and it +is admitted that these species are all prolific without +limit <i>inter se</i>.</p> + +<p>The llama affords another strong argument in favor +of the fourth degree of hybridity. Cuvier admits but +two species—the llama (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">camelus llacma</i>), of which he +regards the <em>alpaca</em> as a variety, and the vigogne +(<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">camelus vicunna</i>). More recent naturalists regard +the alpaca as a distinct species, among whom is M. +Geoffroy St. Hilaire.<a name="FNanchor-211" id="FNanchor-211"></a><a href="#Footnote-211" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 211.">[211]</a> At all events, it seems settled +that they <em>all</em> breed together without limit.</p> + +<blockquote lang="fr" xml:lang="fr"><p>"A son tour, après la vigogne, viendra bientôt l'alpavigogne, +fruit du croisement de l'alpaca avec la vigogne. Don Francisco +de Theran, il ya quarante ans, et M. de Castelnau, avaient +annoncé déjà que ce métis est fécond, et qu'il porte une laine +presque aussi longue que celle de l'alpaca, presque aussi fine que +celle de la vigogne.... M. Weddell a mis tout récemment +l'Académie des Sciences à même de voir et d'admirer cette +admirable toison. Il a confirmé en même temps un fait que +n'avait trouvé que des incrédules parmi les naturalists—la fécondité +de l'alpaca-vigogne: l'abbé Cabrera, curé de la petite +ville de Macusani, a obtenu une race qui se perpétue et dont il +possède déjà tout un troupeau. C'est, donc, pour ainsi dire,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page502" id="page502">[Pg 502]</a></span> +une nouvelle espèce créée par l'homme; et si paradoxal qu' ait +pu sembler ce résultat, il est, fort heureusement pour l'industrie, +<em>définitivement acquis à la science</em>.</p> + +<p>"Ce résultat n'aurait rien de paradoxal, si l'alpaca n'était, +comme l'ont pensé plusieurs auteurs, qu'une race domestique +et três modifiée de la vigogne. Cette objection contre le pretendu +principe de l'infécondite des mulets ne serait d'ailleurs levée que +pour faire place à une autre; <em>l'alpa-llama</em> serait alors un mulet, +issu de deux espèces distincts, et l'alpa-llama est fécond comme +l'alpa-vigogne."<a name="FNanchor-212" id="FNanchor-212"></a><a href="#Footnote-212" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 212.">[212]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>We have recently seen exhibited in Mobile a beautiful +hybrid of the alpaca and common sheep, and the +owner informed us that he had a flock at home, which +breed perfectly.</p> + +<p>Dr. Bachman confesses that he has not examined the +drawings given in the works of Lepsius, Champollion, +Rossellini, and other Egyptologists, of various animals +represented on the monuments, and ridicules the idea +of their being received as authority in matters of natural +history. Although many of the drawings are rudely +done, most of them, in outline, are beautifully executed, +and Dr. B. is the first, so far as we know, to call the +fact in question. Dr. Chas. Pickering is received by +Dr. B. as high authority in scientific matters—he has +not only examined these drawings, but their originals. +Lepsius, Champollion, Rossellini, Wilkinson, and all +the Egyptologists, have borne witness to the reliability +of these drawings, and have enumerated hundreds of +animals and plants which are perfectly identified.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page503" id="page503">[Pg 503]</a></span>Martin, the author of the work on "<cite>Man and +Monkeys</cite>," is certainly good authority. He says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"Now we have in modern Egypt and Arabia, and also in +Persia, varieties of greyhound closely resembling those of the +ancient remains of art, and it would appear that two or three +varieties exist—one smooth, another long haired, and another +smooth with long-haired ears, resembling those of the spaniel. +In Persia, the greyhound, to judge from specimens we have seen, +is silk-haired, with a fringed tail. They are of a black color; +but a fine breed, we are informed, is of a slate or ash color, as +are some of the smooth-haired greyhounds depicted in the +Egyptian paintings. In Arabia, a large, rough, powerful race +exists; and about Akaba, according to Laborde, a breed of +slender form, fleet, with a long tail, very hairy, in the form of a +brush, with the ears erect and pointed, closely resembling, in +fact, many of those figured by the ancient Egyptians."<a name="FNanchor-213" id="FNanchor-213"></a><a href="#Footnote-213" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 213.">[213]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>He goes on to quote Col. Sykes, and others, for other +varieties of greyhound in the east, unlike any in Europe.</p> + +<p>Dr. Pickering, after enumerating various objects +identified on the monuments of the third and fourth +dynasties, as Nubians, white races, the ostrich, ibis, +jackal, antelope, hedgehog, goose, fowls, ducks, bullock, +donkey, goats, dog-faced ape, hyena, porcupine, wolves, +foxes, &c. &c., when he comes down to the twelfth +dynasty, says:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The paintings on the walls represent a vast variety of subjects; +including, most unexpectedly, the greater part of the <em>arts</em> +and <em>trades</em> practised among civilized nations at the present day; +also birds, quadrupeds, fishes, and insects, amounting to an <em>extended +treatise on zoology</em>, well deserving the attention of naturalists. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="page504" id="page504">[Pg 504]</a></span>The date accompanying these representations has been +astronomically determined by Biot, at about B. C. 2200 +(Champollion-Figeac, <cite>Egyp. Arc.</cite>); and Lepsius's chronological +computation corresponds."<a name="FNanchor-214" id="FNanchor-214"></a><a href="#Footnote-214" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 214.">[214]</a></p></blockquote> + +<p>Dr. P. gives us a fauna and flora of Egypt, running +further back than Usher's date for the creation, and it +cannot be doubted that the drawings are as reliable as +those in any modern work on natural history.</p> + + + +<hr class="major" /> +<h3><a name="C" id="C"></a>C.</h3> + + +<p>Mr. Gobineau remarks (<a title="Go to page 367." href="#page367">p. 367</a>), that he has very +serious doubts as to the unity of origin. "These +doubts, however," he continues, "I am compelled to +repress, because they are in contradiction to a scientific +fact, which I cannot refute—the prolificness of half-breeds; +and secondly, what is of much greater weight +with me, they impugn a religious interpretation sanctioned +by the church."</p> + +<p>With regard to the prolificness of half-breeds, I have +already mentioned such facts as might have served to +dispel the learned writer's doubts, had he been acquainted +with them. In reference to the other, more +serious, obstacle to his admission of the plurality of +origins, he himself intimates (<a title="Go to page 339." href="#page339">p. 339</a>) that the authority<span class="pagenum"><a name="page505" id="page505">[Pg 505]</a></span> +of this interpretation might, perhaps, be questioned +without transgressing the limits imposed by the church. +Believing this view to be correct, I shall venture on a +few remarks upon this last scruple of the author, which +is shared by many investigators of this interesting subject.</p> + +<blockquote><p>"The strict rule of scientific scrutiny," says the most learned +and formidable opponent in the adversary's camp,<a name="FNanchor-215" id="FNanchor-215"></a><a href="#Footnote-215" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 215.">[215]</a> "exacts, +according to modern philosophers, in matters of inductive +reasoning, an exclusive homage. It requires that we should +close our eyes against all presumptive and exterior evidence, +and <em>abstract our minds from all considerations not derived from +the matters of fact which bear immediately on the question</em>. The +maxim we have to follow in such controversies is '<span xml:lang="la" lang="la">fiat justitia, +ruat cœlum.</span>' <em>In fact, what is actually true, it is always desirous +to know, whatever consequences may arise from its admission.</em>"</p></blockquote> + +<p>To this sentiment I cheerfully subscribe: it has always +been my maxim. Yet I find it necessary, in +treating of this subject, to touch on its <em>biblical</em> connections, +for although we have great reason to rejoice at +the improved tone of toleration, or even liberality +which prevails in this country, the day has not +come when science can be severed from theology, and +the student of nature can calmly follow her truths, no +matter whither they may lead. What a mortifying +picture do we behold in the histories of astronomy, +geology, chronology, cosmogony, geographical distribution +of animals, &c.; they have been compelled to +fight their way, step by step, through human passion<span class="pagenum"><a name="page506" id="page506">[Pg 506]</a></span> +and prejudice, from their supposed contradiction to +Holy Writ. But science has been vindicated—their +great truths have been established, and the Bible stands +as firmly as it did before. The last great struggle between +science and theology is the one we are now engaged +in—the <em>natural history of man</em>—it has now, for +the first time, a fair hearing before Christendom, and +all any question should ask is "<em>daylight and fair +play</em>."</p> + +<p>The Bible should not be regarded as a text-book of +natural history. On the contrary, it must be admitted +that none of the writers of the Old or New Testament +give the slightest evidence of knowledge in any +department of science beyond that of their profane +contemporaries; and we hold that the natural history +of man is a department of science which should be +placed upon the same footing with others, and its facts +dispassionately investigated. What we require for our +guidance in this world is truth, and the history of +science shows how long it has been stifled by bigotry +and error.</p> + +<p>It was taught for ages that the sun moved around +the earth; that there had been but one creation of +organized beings; that our earth was created but six +thousand years ago, and that the stars were made to +shed light upon it; that the earth was a plane, with +sides and ends; that all the animals on earth were derived +from Noah's ark, &c. But what a different revelation +does science give us? We now know that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page507" id="page507">[Pg 507]</a></span> +earth revolves around the sun, that the earth is a globe +which turns on its own axis, that there has been a succession +of destructions and creations of living beings, +that the earth has existed countless ages, and that +there are stars so distant as to require millions of years +for their light to reach us; that instead of one, there +are many centres of creation for existing animals and +plants, &c.</p> + +<p>If so many false readings of the Bible have been +admitted among theologians, who has authority or +wisdom to say to science—"thus far shalt thou go, +and no further?" The doctrine of <em>unity</em> for the human +family may be another great error, and certainly a +denial of its truth does no more, nay, less violence to the +language of the Bible, than do the examples above cited.</p> + +<p>It is a popular error, and one difficult to eradicate, +that all the species of animals now dwelling on the +earth are descendants of pairs and septuples preserved +in Noah's ark, and certainly the language of Genesis +on this point is too plain to admit of any quibble; it +does teach that every living being perished by the +flood, except those alone which were saved in the ark. +Yet no living naturalist, in or out of the church, believes +this statement to be correct. The centres of +creation are so numerous, and the number of animals +so great that it is impossible it should be so.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, the first chapter of Genesis gives +an account entirely in accordance with the teachings +of science.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page508" id="page508">[Pg 508]</a></span></p> + +<blockquote><p>"And God said, let the earth bring forth <em>grass</em>, the herb +yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit, after his kind, +whose seed is in itself upon the earth; and it was so." <cite>Gen.</cite> +i. 11.</p> + +<p>"And God said, let the waters bring forth <em>abundantly</em>, the +moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the +earth in the open firmament of heaven." v. 20.</p> + +<p>"And God created great <em>whales</em>, and every living creature +that moveth, which the waters brought forth <em>abundantly</em>," &c. +v. 21.</p> + +<p>"And God said, let the earth bring forth the living creature +after his kind, cattle and creeping thing, and beast of the earth +after his kind, and it was so." v. 24.</p> + +<p>"God created <em>man</em> in his own image; <em>male</em> and <em>female</em> created +he <em>them</em>."</p></blockquote> + +<p>In the language above quoted, nothing is said about +one seed or one blade of grass; about one fruit tree, +or about <em>single pairs</em> of animals or human beings. On +the contrary, this chapter closes with the distinct impression +on the mind that everything was created +<em>abundantly</em>. The only difficulty arises with regard to +the human family, and we are here confused by the +contradictory statements of the first and second chapters. +In the first chapter, man was created <em>male and +female</em>, on the sixth day—in the second chapter, woman +was not created until after Adam was placed in the +Garden of Eden. Commentators explain this discrepancy +by the difference in style of the two chapters, and +the inference that Genesis is a compilation made up by +Moses from two or three different writers; but it is +not our purpose here to open these theological discussions. +Both sides are sustained by innumerable authorities. +From what we have before shown, it is clear<span class="pagenum"><a name="page509" id="page509">[Pg 509]</a></span> +that the inspired writers possessed no knowledge of +physical sciences, and as little respecting the natural +history of man, as of any other department.</p> + +<p>Their <em>moral</em> mission does not concern our subject, +and we leave that to theologians, to whom it more +properly belongs. On the other hand, we ask to be +let alone in our study of the physical laws of the universe. +The theologian and the naturalist have each +an ample field without the necessity of interfering with +each other.</p> + +<p>The Bible is here viewed only in its relations with +physical science. We have already alluded to the fact +that in astronomy, geology, &c., the authors of the +Bible possessed no knowledge beyond that of their +profane contemporaries, and a dispassionate examination +of the text from Genesis to Revelation will show +that the writers had but an imperfect knowledge of +contemporary races, and did not design to teach the +doctrine of unity of mankind, or rather origin from a +single pair. The writer of the <cite>Pentateuch</cite> could +attach little importance to such an idea, as he nowhere +alludes to a future existence, or rewards and +punishments—all good and evil, as far as the human +race is concerned, with him, were merely temporal.</p> + +<p>This idea of a future state does not distinctly appear +in the Jewish writings until after their return from the +Babylonish captivity.</p> + +<p>The extent of the surface of the globe, known even +to the writers of the New Testament, formed but a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page510" id="page510">[Pg 510]</a></span> +small fraction of it—little beyond the confines of the +Roman empire. No allusion is even made to Southern +and Eastern Asia; Africa, south of the Desert; Australia, +America, &c.; all of which were inhabited long +before the time of Moses; and of the races of men inhabiting +these countries, and their languages, they +certainly knew nothing. The Chinese and Indian +empires, at least, are beyond dispute. The early +Hebrews were a pastoral people; had little commercial +or other intercourse with the rest of the world, +and were far from being "learned in all the wisdom +of the Egyptians." The Egyptian empire was fully +developed—arts and science as flourishing—pyramids +and gorgeous temples built, not only before the time +of Moses, but long prior to that of the Patriarch +Abraham, who, with Sarah, went to Egypt to buy +corn of the reigning Pharaoh. What is remarkable, +too, the Egyptians had their ethnographers, and had +already classified the human family into four races, and +depicted them on the monuments, viz: the black, +white, yellow, and red.<a name="FNanchor-216" id="FNanchor-216"></a><a href="#Footnote-216" class="fnanchor" title="Go to footnote 216.">[216]</a></p> + +<p>In fact, nothing can be more incomplete, contradictory, +and unsatisfactory than the ethnography of Genesis. +We see Cain going into a foreign land and taking +a wife before there were any women born of his parent +stock. Cities are seen springing up in the second and +third generations, in every direction, &c. All this +shows that we have in Genesis no satisfactory history<span class="pagenum"><a name="page511" id="page511">[Pg 511]</a></span> +of the human family, and that we can rely no more +upon its ethnography than upon its geography, astronomy, +cosmogony, geology, zoology, &c.</p> + +<p>We have already alluded to the fact that the writers +of the New Testament give no evidence of additional +knowledge in such matters. The sermon from the +Mount comes like a light from Heaven, but this volume +is mute on all that pertains to the physical laws of the +universe.</p> + +<p>If the common origin of man were such an important +point in the eyes of the Almighty as we have been +taught to believe, is it reasonable to suppose it would +have been left by the inspired writers in such utter +confusion and doubt? The coming of Christ changed +the whole question, and we should expect, at least in +the four Gospels, for some authority that would settle +this vital point; but strange as the assertion may seem, +there is not a single passage here to be found, which, +by any distortion, can be made to sustain this <em>unity</em>; +and on searching diligently the New Testament, from +one end to the other, we were not a little surprised to +find but a single text that seemed to bear directly upon +it, viz: the oft quoted one in Acts xvii. 26: "And +hath made of <em>one blood</em> all nations of men for to dwell +on all the face of the earth," &c. Being astonished at +the fact that this great question of common origin of +man should thus be made to hang so much upon a +single verse, it occurred to me that there might be +some error, some interpolation in the text, and having<span class="pagenum"><a name="page512" id="page512">[Pg 512]</a></span> +no material at hand for such an investigation in Mobile, +I wrote to a competent friend in Philadelphia, to examine +for me all the Greek texts and old versions, and +his reply confirmed fully my suspicions. The word +<em>blood</em> is an interpolation, and not to be found in the +original texts. The word <em>blood</em> has been rejected by +the Catholic Church, from the time of St. Jerome to +the present hour. The text of Tischendorf is regarded, +I believe, generally as the most accurate Greek text +known, and in this the word blood does not appear. I +have at hand a long list of authorities to the same +effect, but as it is presumed no competent authority +will call our assertion in question, it is needless to cite +them. The verse above alluded to in Acts should, +therefore, read:—</p> + +<blockquote><p>"And hath made of <em>one</em> all races (genus) of men," &c.</p></blockquote> + +<p>The word <em>blood</em> is a gloss, and we have just as much +right to interpolate <em>one form</em>, <em>one substance</em>, <em>one nature</em>, +<em>one responsibility</em>, or anything else, as <em>blood</em>.</p> + +<p>These remarks on the ethnography of the Bible +might be greatly extended, but my object here is simply +to show that the Bible, to say the least, leaves the field +open, and that I have entered it soberly, discreetly, +and advisedly.</p> + +<p class="center"><a name="THE_END" id="THE_END"></a>THE END.</p> + +<hr /> + +<div class="note tbreak" title="Navigation"> +<p class="center">Return to <a href="#TN">Top of Page</a> or list of <a href="#TOC">Contents</a></p> +</div> + +<div class="footnotes"><a name="FOOTNOTES" id="FOOTNOTES"></a><h2>FOOTNOTES:</h2> + +<ol> +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-1" id="Footnote-1"></a> <cite>Researches into the Physical History of Mankind</cite>. By James +Cowles Prichard, M. D., London, 1841. Vol. i. p. 1.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-1">1</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-2" id="Footnote-2"></a> "Mr. Prichard's <em>permanent variety</em>, from his own definition, +is to all intents and purposes <em>a species</em>."—<cite>Kneeland's Introduction +to Hamilton Smith's Natural History of the Human Species</cite>, +p. 84.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-2">2</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-3" id="Footnote-3"></a> Smith's Wealth of Nations, Amer. ed., vol. i. p. 29.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-3">3</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-4" id="Footnote-4"></a> <i>Vide</i> Bigland's Effects of Physical and Moral Causes on the +Character and Circumstances of Nations. London, 1828, p. 282.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-4">4</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-5" id="Footnote-5"></a> <cite>Op. cit.</cite>, p. 7.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-5">5</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-6" id="Footnote-6"></a> St. Matthew, ch. xi. v. 25.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-6">6</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-7" id="Footnote-7"></a> <i>Vide</i> Prichard's <cite>Natural History of Man</cite>, p. 66, <i>et passim</i>. +"His theory," says Van Amringe, "required that animals should +be analogous to man. It was therefore highly important that, +as he was then laying the foundation for all his future arguments +and conclusions, he should elevate animals to the proper eminence, +to be analogous; rather than, as Mr. Lawrence did, sink +man to the level of brutes. It was an ingenious contrivance by +which he could gain all the advantages, and escape the censures +of the learned lecturer. It is so simple a contrivance, too—merely +substituting the word 'psychological' for 'instinctive +characteristics,' and the whole animal kingdom would instantly +rise to the proper platform, to be the types of the human family. +To get the psychology of men and animals thus related, without +the trouble of philosophically accomplishing so impossible a +thing, by the mere use of a word, was an ingenious, though not +an ingenuous achievement. It gave him a specious right to use +bees and wasps, rats and dogs, sheep, goats, and rabbits—in +short, the whole animal kingdom—as human psychical analogues, +which would be amazingly convenient when conclusions were to +be made."—<cite>Natural History of Man</cite>, by <cite class="author">W. F. Van Amringe</cite>. +1848, p. 459.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-7">7</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-8" id="Footnote-8"></a> This fact is considered by Dr. Nott as a proof of <em>specific</em> +difference among dogs.—<cite>Types of Mankind.</cite> Phila., 1854.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-8">8</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-9" id="Footnote-9"></a> In 1497, Vasco di Gama sailed around Cape Good Hope; +even previous to that, Portuguese vessels had coasted along the +western shores of Africa. Since that time the Europeans have +subjected the whole of the American continents, southern Asia +and the island world of the Pacific, while Africa is almost as +unknown as it ever was. The Cape Colony is not in the original +territory of the negro. Liberia and Sierra Leone contain a half-breed +population, and present experiments by no means tested. +It may be fairly asserted that nowhere has the power and intelligence +of the white race made less impression, produced +fewer results, than in the domain of the negro.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-9">9</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-10" id="Footnote-10"></a> Roberts, the president of the Liberian Republic, boasts of but +a small portion of African blood in his veins. Sequoyah, the +often-cited inventor of the Cherokee alphabet, so far from being +a pure Indian, was the son of a white man.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-10">10</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-11" id="Footnote-11"></a> For the great perfection to which the Chinese have carried +the luxuries and amenities of life, see particularly M. Huc's +<cite>Travels in China</cite>. He lived among them for years, and, what +few travellers do, spoke their language so fluently and perfectly +that he was enabled, during a considerable number of +years, to discharge the duties of a missionary, disguised as a +native.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-11">11</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-12" id="Footnote-12"></a> It would be useless to remind our readers of the famous +Great Wall, the Imperial Canals, that largest of the cities of +the world—Pekin. The various treatises of the Chinese on morals +and politics, especially that of Confucius, have been admired +by all European thinkers. <em>Consult Pauthier's elaborate work on +China.</em> It is equally well known that the Chinese knew the +art of printing, gunpowder and its uses, the mariner's compass, +etc., centuries before we did. For the general diffusion of +elementary knowledge among the Chinese, see <cite>Davis's Sketches</cite>, +and other authors. Those who may think me a biassed panegyrist +of the Chinese, I refer to the following works as among +the most reliable of the vast number written on the subject:— +</p> + +<ul class="none"> + <li><cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Description Historique, Géographique, et Littéraire de la Chine.</cite> Par M. <cite class="author">G. Pauthier</cite>. Paris, 1839.</li> + <li><cite>China Opened.</cite> By <cite class="author">Rev. Chs. Gutzlaff</cite>. London, 1838.</li> + <li><cite>China, Political, Commercial, and Social.</cite> By <cite class="author">R. Montgomery Martin</cite>. London, 1847.</li> + <li><cite>Sketches of China.</cite> By <cite class="author">John F. Davis</cite>. London, 1841.</li> +</ul> + +<p>And above all, for amusing and instructive reading,</p> + +<ul class="none"> + <li><cite>Journey through the Chinese Empire.</cite> By <cite class="author">M. Huc</cite>. New York, 1855; and</li> + <li><cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Mélanges Asiatiques.</cite> Par <cite class="author">Abel Remusat</cite>. Paris, 1835.</li> +</ul> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-12">12</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-13" id="Footnote-13"></a> Unwilling to introduce statistic pedantry into a composition +of so humble pretensions as an introduction, I have refrained to +give the figures—not always very accurate, I admit—upon which +the preceding gradation is based, viz: the number of persons +able to read and write in each of the above-named countries. +How far England and France are behindhand in this respect, +compared either with ourselves, or with other European nations, +is tolerably well known; but the fact that not only in China +proper, but in Thibet, Japan, Anam, Tonquin, etc., few can be +found devoid of that acquirement, will probably meet with many +incredulous readers, though it is mentioned by almost every +traveller. (See <cite>J. Mohl's Annual Report to the Asiatic Society</cite>, 1851.) +But, it may be safely asserted that, in the whole of that portion +of Asia lying south of the Altai Mountains, including Japan, +altogether the most populous region of the globe, the percentage +of males unable to read and write is by far smaller than in the +entire population of Europe. Be it well understood, that I do +not, therefore, claim any superiority for the inhabitants of the +former region over those of the latter. +</p><p> +"In China," says M. Huc, "there are not, as in Europe, +public libraries and reading-rooms; but those who have a taste +for reading, and a desire to instruct themselves, can satisfy their +inclinations very easily, as books are sold here at a lower price +than in any other country. Besides, the Chinese find everywhere +something to read; they can scarcely take a step without seeing +some of the characters of which they are so proud. One may +say, in fact, that all China is an immense library; for inscriptions, +sentences, moral precepts, are found in every corner, written in +letters of all colors and all sizes. The façades of the tribunals, +the pagodas, the public monuments, the signs of the shops, the +doors of the houses, the interior of the apartments, the corridors, +all are full of fine quotations from the best authors. Teacups, +plates, vases, fans, are so many selections of poems, often chosen +with much taste, and prettily printed. A Chinese has no need +to give himself much trouble in order to enjoy the finest productions +of his country's literature. He need only take his pipe, +and walk out, with his nose in the air, through the principal +streets of the first town he comes to. Let him enter the poorest +house in the most wretched village; the destitution may be complete, +things the most necessary will be wanting; but he is sure +of finding some fine maxims written out on strips of red paper. +Thus, if those grand large characters, which look so terrific in +our eyes, though they delight the Chinese, are really so difficult +to learn, at least the people have the most ample opportunities +of studying them, almost in play, and of impressing them ineffaceably +on their memories."—<cite>A Journey through the Chinese +Empire</cite>, vol. i. pp. 327-328.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-13">13</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-14" id="Footnote-14"></a> Is it necessary to call to the mind of the reader, that the +most prominent physicians, the greatest chemists, the best mathematicians, +were French, and that to the same nation belong +the Comptes, the De Maistres, the Guizots, the De Tocquevilles; +or that, notwithstanding its political extravaganzas, every liberal +theory was first fostered in its bosom? The father of our democratic +party was the pupil of French governmental philosophy, +by the lessons of which even his political opponents profited +quite as much as by its errors.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-14">14</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-15" id="Footnote-15"></a> Brace, in his <cite>Home Life in Germany</cite>, mentions an instance +of this kind, but not having the volume at hand, I cannot cite +the page. To every one, however, that has travelled in Europe, +or has not, such facts are familiar. It is well known, for instance, +that in some of the most polished European countries, +the wooden ploughshare is still used; and that, in Paris, that +metropolis of arts and fashion, every drop of water must be +carried, in buckets, from the public fountains to the Dutchess' +<em>boudoir</em> in the first, and to the Grisette's garret in the seventh +story. Compare this with the United States, where—not to +mention Fairmount and Croton—the smallest town, almost, has +her water-works, if required by her topography. Are we, then, +so infinitely more civilized than France?</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-15">15</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-16" id="Footnote-16"></a> Since writing the above, I lit upon the following striking +confirmation of my idea by Dr. Pickering, whose analogism here +so closely resembles mine, as almost to make me suspect myself +of unconscious plagiarism. "While admitting the general truth, +that mankind are essentially alike, no one doubts the existence +of character, distinguishing not only individuals, but communities +and nations. I am persuaded that there is, besides, a +character of race. It would not be difficult to select epithets; +such as 'amphibious, enduring, insititious;' or to point out +as accomplished by one race of men, that which seemed beyond +the powers of another. Each race possessing its peculiar points +of excellence, and, at the same time, counterbalancing defects, +it may be that union was required to attain the full measure of +civilization. In the organic world, each field requires a new +creation; each change in circumstances going beyond the constitution +of a plant or animal, is met by a new adaptation, until +the whole universe is full; while, among the immense variety of +created beings, two kinds are hardly found fulfilling the same +precise purpose. Some analogy may possibly exist in the human +family; and it may even be questioned, whether any one of the +races existing singly would, up to the present day, have extended +itself over the whole surface of the globe."—<cite>The Races of Man, +and their Geographical Distribution.</cite> By <cite class="author">Charles Pickering</cite>, +M. D. Boston, 1811. (<cite>U. S. Exploring Expedition</cite>, vol. ix. p. 200.)</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-16">16</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-17" id="Footnote-17"></a> Since Champollion's fortunate discovery of the Rosetta +stone, which furnished the key to the hieroglyphics, the deciphering +of these once so mysterious characters has made such progress, +that Lepsius, the great modern Egyptologist, declares it +possible to write a minute court gazette of the reign of Ramses +II., the Sesostris of the Greeks, and even of monarchs as far back +as the IVth dynasty. To understand that this is no vain boast, +the reader must remember that these hieroglyphics mostly contain +records of private or royal lives, and that the mural paintings +in the temples and sepulchral chambers, generally represent +scenes illustrative of trades, or other occupations, games, etc., +practised among the people of that early day.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-17">17</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-18" id="Footnote-18"></a> <cite>Ethnological Journal</cite>, edited by Luke Burke, London, 1848; +June 1, No. 1, from <cite>Types of Mankind</cite>. By <cite class="author">Nott</cite> and <cite class="author">Gliddon</cite>, +p. 49.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-18">18</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-19" id="Footnote-19"></a> From <cite>Types of Mankind</cite>. By <cite class="author">Nott</cite> and <cite class="author">Gliddon</cite>, p. 52.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-19">19</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-20" id="Footnote-20"></a> The term "race" is of relative meaning, and, though often +erroneously used synonymously with <em>species</em>, by no means signifies +the same. The most strenuous advocates of sameness of +species, use it to designate well-defined groups, as the white and +black. If we consider ourselves warranted by the language of +the Bible, to believe in separate origins of the human family, +then, indeed, it may be considered as similar in meaning to +species; otherwise, it must signify but subdivisions of one. We +may therefore speak of ten or a hundred races of man, without +impugning their being descended from the same stock. All that +is here contended for is, that the distinctive features of such +races, in whatever manner they may have originated, are now +persistent. Two men may, the one arrive at the highest honors +of the State, the other, with every facility at his command, +forever remain in mediocrity. Yet, these two men may be +brothers. +</p><p> +That the question of species, when disconnected from any +theological bearing, is one belonging exclusively to the province +of the naturalist, and in which the metaphysician can have but +a subordinate part, may be illustrated by a homely simile. Diversity +of talent in the same family involves no doubt of parentage; +but, if one child be born with a black skin and woolly hair, +questions about the paternity might indeed arise.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-20">20</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-21" id="Footnote-21"></a> <cite>Natural History of the Varieties of Man.</cite> By <cite class="author">Robert Gordon +Latham</cite>. London, 1850.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-21">21</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-22" id="Footnote-22"></a> The collision between these two nationalities, only a few +years ago, was attended by scenes so revolting—transcending +even the horrors of the Corcyrian sedition, the sack of Magdeburg, +or the bloodiest page in the French Revolution—that, for +the honor of human nature, I would gladly disbelieve the accounts +given of them. But the testimony comes from neutral +sources, the friends of either party being interested in keeping +silence. I shall have occasion to allude to this subject again, +and therefore reserve further details for a note in the body of +the work.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-22">22</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-23" id="Footnote-23"></a> Even the historians of ancient Greece wondered at those +gigantic ruins, of which many are still extant. Of these cyclopean +remains, as they were often called, no one knew the builders +or the history, and they were considered as the labors of the +fabulous heroes of a traditional epoch. For an account of these +memorials of an <em>ante-hellenic civilization in Greece, of which we have +no record</em>, particularly the ruins of Orchomonos, Tirgus, Mycene, +and the tunnels of Lake Copais, see <cite>Niebuhr's Ancient History</cite>, +vol. i. p. 241, <i>et passim</i>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-23">23</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-24" id="Footnote-24"></a> Democracy in America, vol. ii. ch. xviii. p. 424.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-24">24</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-25" id="Footnote-25"></a> Daniel ii. 44.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-25">25</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-26" id="Footnote-26"></a> Daniel ii. 31 to 35.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-26">26</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-27" id="Footnote-27"></a> Among many passages illustrative of the ultra utilitarianism +of the Chinese, I can find space but for one, and that +selected almost at random. After speaking of the exemplary +diffusion of primary instruction among the masses, he says +that, though they all read, and frequently, yet even their reading +is of a strictly utilitarian character, and never answers any +but practical purposes or temporary amusement. The name +of the author is seldom known, and never inquired after. +"That class are, in their eyes, only idle persons, who pass +their time in making prose or verse. They have no objection +to such a pursuit. A man may, they say, 'amuse himself with +his pen as with his kite, if he likes it as well—it is all a matter +of taste.' The inhabitants of the celestial empire would never +recover from their astonishment if they knew to what extent +intellectual labor may be in Europe a source of honor and often +wealth. If they were told that a person among us may obtain +great glory by composing a drama or a novel, they would either +not believe it, or set it down as an additional proof of our well-known +want of common sense. How would it be if they should +be told of the renown of a dancer or a violin player, and that +one cannot make a bound, nor the other draw a bow anywhere +without thousands of newspapers hastening to spread the important +news over all the kingdoms of Europe! +</p><p> +"The Chinese are too decided utilitarians to enter into our +views of the arts. In their opinion, a man is only worthy of the +admiration of his fellow-creatures when he has well fulfilled +the social duties, and especially if he knows better than any +one else how to get out of a scrape. You are regarded as a +man of genius if you know how to regulate your family, make +your lands fruitful, traffic with ability, and realize great profits. +This, at least, is the only kind of genius that is of any value +in the eyes of these eminently practical men."—<cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Voyages en +Chine</cite>, par M. Huc, Amer. trans., vol. i. pp. 316 and 317.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-27">27</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-28" id="Footnote-28"></a> Nat. Hist. of the Varieties of Man. London.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-28">28</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-29" id="Footnote-29"></a> According to Latham's classification, <cite>op. cit.</cite></p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-29">29</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-30" id="Footnote-30"></a> A. de Humboldt, <span xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Examen Critique de l'Histoire de la Géographie +du Nouveau Continent</span>. Paris.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-30">30</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-31" id="Footnote-31"></a> Amadée Thierry, <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">La Gaule sous l'Administration Romaine</cite>, +vol. i. p. 244.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-31">31</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-32" id="Footnote-32"></a> See Prescott's <cite>History of the Conquest of Mexico</cite>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-32">32</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-33" id="Footnote-33"></a> C. F. Weber, <cite>M. A. Lucani Pharsalia</cite>. Leipzig, 1828, vol. i. +pp. 122-123, <cite>note</cite>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-33">33</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-34" id="Footnote-34"></a> Prichard, <cite>Natural History of Man</cite>.—Dr. Martius is still more +explicit. (See <cite>Martius and Spix</cite>, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Reise in Brasilien</cite>. Munich, vol. +i. pp. 379-380.) +</p><p> +Mr. Gobineau quotes from M. Roulin's French translation of +Prichard's great work, and as I could not always find the corresponding +pages in the original, I have sometimes been obliged +to omit the citation of the page, that in the French translation +being useless to English readers.—<cite>Transl.</cite></p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-34">34</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-35" id="Footnote-35"></a> I greatly doubt whether the fanaticism of even the ancient +Mexicans could exceed that displayed by some of our not very +remote ancestors. Who, that reads the trials for witchcraft in +the judicial records of Scotland, and, after smiling at the frivolous, +inconsistent testimony against the accused, comes to the +cool, uncommented marginal note of the reporter: "Convicta et +combusta," does not feel his heart leap for horror? But, if he +comes to an entry like the following, he feels as though lightning +from heaven could but inflict too mild a punishment on the +perpetrators of such unnatural crimes. +</p><p> +"1608, Dec. 1.—The Earl of Mar declared to the council, that +some women were taken in Broughton as witches, and being put +to an assize, and convicted, albeit they persevered constant in +their denial to the end, they were burnt quick (alive), after such +a cruel manner, that some of them died in despair, renouncing +and blaspheming God; and <em>others, half-burned, brak out of the +fire, and were cast in it again, till they were burned to death</em>." Entry +in Sir Thomas Hamilton's <cite>Minutes of Proceedings in the Privy +Council</cite>. (From W. Scott's <cite>Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft</cite>, +p. 315.) +</p><p> +Really, I do not believe that the Peruvians ever carried fanaticism +so far. Yet, a counterpart to this horrible picture is found +in the history of New England. A man, named Cory, being +accused of witchcraft, and refusing to plead, was accordingly +pressed to death. And when, in the agony of death, the unfortunate +man thrust out his tongue, the sheriff, without the least +emotion, crammed it back into the mouth with his cane. (See +Cotton Mather's <cite xml:lang="la" lang="la">Magnalia Christi Americana</cite>, Hardford. <cite>Thau. +Pneu</cite>, c. vii. p. 383, <i>et passim</i>.) +</p><p> +Did the ferocity of the most brutish savages ever invent any +torture more excruciating than that in use in the British Isles, +not much more than two centuries ago, for bringing poor, decrepit +old women to the confession of a crime which never existed +but in the crazed brain of bigots. "The nails were torn from the +fingers with smith's pincers; pins driven into the places which the +nails defended; the knees were crushed in the <em>boots</em>, the finger-bones +splintered in the <em>pilniewinks</em>," etc. (Scott, <cite>op. cit.</cite>, p. 312.) +But then, it is true, they had a more <em>gentle</em> torture, which an English +Lord (Eglington) had the honor and humanity to invent! This +consisted in placing the legs of a poor woman in the stocks, and +then <em>loading the bare shins with bars of iron</em>. Above thirty stones +of iron were placed upon the limbs of an unfortunate woman +before she could be brought to the confession which led her to +the stake. (Scott, <cite>op. cit.</cite>, pp. 321, 324, 327, etc. etc.) +</p><p> +As late as 1682, not yet 200 years ago, three women were +hanged, in England, for witchcraft; and the fatal statute against +it was not abolished until 1751, when the rabble put to death, in +the most horrible manner, an old pauper woman, and very nearly +killed another. +</p><p> +And, in the middle of last century, eighty-five persons were +burnt, or otherwise executed, for witchcraft, at Mohra, in +Sweden. Among them were fifteen young children. +</p><p> +If God had ordained that fanaticism should be punished by +national ruin, were not these crimes, in which, in most cases, +the whole nation participated, were not they horrible enough to +draw upon the perpetrators the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah? +Surely, if fanaticism were the cause of national decay, most +European nations had long since been swept from the face of +the globe, "so that their places could nowhere be found."—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-35">35</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-36" id="Footnote-36"></a> There seem, at first sight, to be exceptions to the truth of +the assertion, that luxury, in itself, is not productive of national +ruin. Venice, Genoa, Pisa, etc., were <em>aristocratic</em> republics, in +which, as in monarchies, a high degree of luxury is not only +compatible with, but may even be greatly conducive to the +prosperity of the state. But the basis of a <em>democratic</em> republic +is a more or less perfect equality among its citizens, which is +often impaired, and, in the end, subverted by too great a disparity +of wealth. Yet, even in them, glaring contrasts between +extravagant luxury and abject poverty are rather the sign than +the cause, of the disappearance of democratic principles. Examples +might be adduced from history, of democracies in which +great wealth did not destroy democratic ideas and a consequent +simplicity of manners. These ideas must first be forgotten, +before wealth can produce luxury, and luxury its attendant +train of evils. Though accelerating the downfall of a democratic +republic, it is therefore not the primary cause of that +downfall.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-36">36</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-37" id="Footnote-37"></a> Balzac, <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Lettre à Madame la Duchesse de Montausier</cite>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-37">37</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-38" id="Footnote-38"></a> That this stricture is not too severe will be obvious to any +one who reflects on the principles upon which this legislation +was based. Inculcating that war was the great business of +life, and to be terrible to one's enemies the only object of manly +ambition, the Spartan laws sacrificed the noblest private virtues +and domestic affections. They deprived the female character +of the charms that most adorn it—modesty, tenderness, +and sensibility; they made men brutal, coarse, and cruel. +They stunted individual talents; Sparta has produced but few +great men, and these, says Macaulay, only became great when +they ceased to be Lacedemonians. Much unsound sentimentality +has been expended in eulogizing Sparta, from Xenophon +down to Mitford, yet the verdict of the unbiassed historian cannot +differ very widely from that of Macaulay: "The Spartans +purchased for their government a prolongation of its existence +by the sacrifice of happiness at home, and dignity abroad. +They cringed to the powerful, they trampled on the weak, they +massacred their helots, they betrayed their allies, they contrived +to be a day too late for the battle of Marathon, they +attempted to avoid the battle of Salamis, they suffered the +Athenians, to whom they owed their lives and liberties, to be a +second time driven from their country by the Persians, that +they might finish their own fortifications on the Isthmus; they +attempted to take advantage of the distress to which exertions +in their cause had reduced their preservers, in order to make +them their slaves; they strove to prevent those who had abandoned +their walls to defend them, from rebuilding them to defend +themselves; they commenced the Peloponnesian war in +violation of their engagements with their allies; they gave up +to the sword whole cities which had placed themselves under +their protection; they bartered for advantages confined to +themselves the interests, the freedom, and the lives of those +who had served them most faithfully; they took, with equal +complacency, and equal infamy, the stripes of Elis and the +bribes of Persia; they never showed either resentment or gratitude; +they abstained from no injury, and they revenged none. +Above all, they looked on a citizen who served them well as +their deadliest enemy."—<cite>Essays</cite>, iii. 389.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-38">38</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-39" id="Footnote-39"></a> The horrid scenes of California life, its lynch laws, murders, +and list of all possible crimes, are still ringing in our ears, and +have not entirely ceased, though their number is lessened, and they +are rapidly disappearing before lawful order. Australia offered, +and still offers, the same spectacle. Texas, but a few years ago, +and all newly settled countries in our day, afford another striking +illustration of the author's remark. Young communities ever +attract a great number of lawless and desperate men; and this +has been the case in all ages. Rome was founded by a band of +fugitives from justice, and if her early history be critically examined, +it will be found to reveal a state of society, with which +the Rome described by the Satirists, and upbraided by the Censors, +compares favorably. Any one who will cast a glance into +Bishop Potter's <cite>Antiquities</cite>, can convince himself that the state +of morals, in Athens, was no better in her most flourishing periods +than at the time of her downfall, if, indeed, as good; notwithstanding +the glowing colors in which Isocrates and his followers +describe the virtues of her youthful period, and the +degeneracy of the age. Who can doubt that public morality +has attained a higher standard in England, at the present day +when her strength seems to have departed from her, than it had +at any previous era in her history. Where are the brutal fox-hunting +country squires of former centuries? the good old customs, +when hospitality consisted in drinking one's guest underneath +the table? What audience could now endure, or what +police permit, the plays of Congreve and of Otway? Even Shakspeare +has to be pruned by the moral censor, before he can charm +our ears. Addison himself, than whom none contributed more +to purify the morals of his age, bears unmistakable traces of +the coarseness of the time in which he wrote. It will be objected +that we are only more prudish, no better at the bottom. But, +even supposing that the same vices still exist, is it not a great +step in advance, that they dare no longer parade themselves with +unblushing impudence? Many who derive their ideas of the +Middle Ages, of chivalry, etc., from the accounts of romance +writers, have very erroneous notions about the manners of that +period. "It so happens," says Byron, "that the good old times +when '<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">l'amour du bon vieux temps, l'amour antique</i>' flourished, +were the most profligate of all possible centuries. Those who +have any doubts on the subject may consult St. Palay, particularly +vol. ii. p. 69. The vows of chivalry were no better kept +than any other vows whatever, and the songs of the troubadour +were not more decent, and certainly much less refined, than those +of Ovid. The 'cours d'amour, parlements d'amour, ou de courtoisie +et de gentilesse,' had much more of love than of courtesy +and gentleness. (See Roland on the same subject with St. Palay.)" +<cite>Preface to Childe Harold.</cite> I should not have quoted the authority +of a poet on historical matters, were I not convinced, from +my own investigations, that his pungent remarks are perfectly +correct. As a further confirmation, I may mention that a few +years ago, in rummaging over the volumes of a large European +library, I casually lit upon a record of judicial proceedings +during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in a little commonwealth, +whose simplicity of manners, and purity of public morals, +especially in that period, has been greatly extolled by historians. +There, I found a list of crimes, to which the most corrupt of +modern great cities can furnish no parallel. In horror and hellish +ingenuity, they can be faintly approached only by the punishment +which followed them. Of many, our generation ignores +even the name, and, of others, dares not utter them.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-39">39</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-40" id="Footnote-40"></a> This assertion may surprise those who, in the words of a +piquant writer on Parisian life, "have thought of Paris only +under two aspects—one, as the emporium of fashion, fun, and +refinement; the abode of good fellows somewhat dissipated, of +fascinating ladies somewhat over-kind; of succulent dinners, +somewhat indigestible; of pleasures, somewhat illicit;—the other, +as the place <i>par excellence</i>, of revolutions, <i>émeutes</i>, and barricades." +Yet, all who have pierced below the brilliant surface, +and penetrated into the recesses of destitution and crime, have +seen the ministering angel of charity on his errand, and can bear +witness to the truth of the author's remark. No city can show +a greater number of benevolent institutions, none more active +and practical <em>private</em> charity, which inquires not after the country +or creed of its object.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-40">40</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-41" id="Footnote-41"></a> Tottering, falling Greece, gave birth to a Demosthenes, a +Phocian; the period of the downfall of the Roman republic was +the age of Cicero, Brutus, and Cato.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-41">41</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-42" id="Footnote-42"></a> The subjoined picture of the manners of the Frankish conquerors +of Gaul, is selected on account of the weighty authority +from which it comes, from among a number of even darker ones. +"The history of Gregory of Tours shows us on the one hand, +a fierce and barbarous nation; and on the other, kings of as +bad a character. These princes were bloody, unjust, and cruel, +because all the nation was so. If Christianity seemed sometimes +to soften them, it was only by the terror which this religion imprints +in the guilty; the church supported herself against them +by the miracles and prodigies of her saints. The kings were not +sacrilegious, because they dreaded the punishments inflicted on +sacrilegious people: but this excepted, they committed, either +in their passion or cold blood, all manner of crimes and injustice, +because in these the avenging hand of the Deity did not +appear so visible. The Franks, as I have already observed, +bore with bloody kings, because they were fond of blood themselves; +they were not affected with the wickedness and extortion +of their princes, because this was their own character. There +had been a great many laws established, but the kings rendered +them all useless by the practice of issuing <em>preceptions</em>, a kind of +decrees, after the manner of the rescripts of the Roman emperors. +These preceptions were orders to the judges to do, or to +tolerate, things contrary to law. They were given for illicit +marriages, and even those with consecrated virgins; for transferring +successions, and depriving relations of their rights; for +putting to death persons who had not been convicted of any +crime, and not been heard in their defence, etc."—<cite class="author">Montesquieu</cite>, +<cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Esprit des Lois</cite>, b. 31, c. 2.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-42">42</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-43" id="Footnote-43"></a> Augustin Thierry, <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Récit des Temps Mérovingiens</cite>. (See particularly +the <cite>History of Mummolus</cite>.)</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-43">43</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-44" id="Footnote-44"></a> Lucretius was the author of <cite xml:lang="la" lang="la">De Rerum Natura</cite>, and one +of the most distinguished of pagan "free-thinkers." He labored +to combine the philosophy of Epicurus, Evhenius, and others, +into a sort of moral religion, much after the fashion of some of +the German mystics and Platonists of our times.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-44">44</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-45" id="Footnote-45"></a> Cæsar, whose private opinions were both democratical and +sceptical, found it convenient to speak very differently in public, +as the funeral oration in honor of his aunt proves. "On +the maternal side, said he, my aunt Julia is descended from +the kings; on the paternal, from the immortal gods. For my +aunt's mother was of the family of the Martii, who are +descended from King Ancus Martius; and the Julii, to +which stock our family belongs, trace their origin to Venus. +Thus, in her blood was blended the majesty of kings, the most +powerful of men, and the sanctity of the gods, who have even +the kings in their power."—<cite>Suetonius</cite>, <cite>Julius</cite>, 5. +</p><p> +Are not these sentiments very monarchical for a democrat; +very religious for an atheist?</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-45">45</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-46" id="Footnote-46"></a> It is well known that Constantine did not receive the rite +of baptism until within the last hours of his life, although he +professed to be a sincere believer. The coins, also, struck +during his reign, all bore pagan emblems.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-46">46</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-47" id="Footnote-47"></a> Acts xxvi. 24, 28, 31.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-47">47</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-48" id="Footnote-48"></a> It will be understood that I speak here, not of the political +existence of a centre of sovereignty, but of the life of an entire +nation, the prosperity of a civilization. Here is the place to +apply the definition given above, <a title="Go to page 114." href="#page114">page 114</a>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-48">48</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-49" id="Footnote-49"></a> This assertion will appear paradoxical to those who are in +the habit of looking upon Spain as the type of hopeless national +degradation. But whoever studies the history of the last thirty +years, which is but a series of struggles to rise from this position, +will probably arrive at the same conclusions as the author. +The revolution of 1820 redeems the character of the nation. +"The Spanish Constitution" became the watchword of the +friends of constitutional liberty in the South of Europe, and ere +thirteen months had fully passed, it had become the fundamental +law of three other countries—Portugal, Naples, and Sardinia. +At the mere sound of those words, two kings had resigned their +crowns. These revolutions were not characterized by excesses. +They were, for the most part, accomplished peacefully, quietly, +and orderly. They were not the result of the temporary passions +of an excited mob. The most singular feature of these +countries is that the lowest dregs of the population are the most +zealous adherents of absolutism. No, these revolutions were +the work of the best elements in the population, the most intelligent +classes, of people who knew what they wanted, and how +to get it. And then, when Spain had set that ever glorious example to her neighbors, the great powers, with England at the +head, concluded to re-establish the former state of things. In +those memorable congresses of plenipotentiaries, the most influential +was the representative of England, the Duke of Wellington. +And by his advice, or, at least, with his sanction, an +Austrian army entered Sardinia, and abolished the new constitution; +an Austrian army entered Naples and abolished the new +constitution; English vessels of war threatened Lisbon, and Portugal +abolished her new constitution; and finally a French army +entered Spain, and abolished the new constitution. So Naples +and Portugal regained their tyrants, and Spain her imbecile +dynasty. For years the Spaniards have tried to shake it off, +and English influence alone has maintained on a great nation's +throne, a wretch that would have disgraced the lowest walks of +private life. But the day of Spanish liberty and Spanish <em>independence</em> +will dawn, and perhaps already has dawned. The efforts +of the last Cortes were wisely directed, and their proceedings +marked with a manliness, a moderation, and a firmness that +augur well for the future weal of Spain.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-49">49</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-50" id="Footnote-50"></a> Who is not reminded of Oxenstierna's famous saying to +his son: "<span xml:lang="la" lang="la">Cum parva sapientiâ mundus gubernatur</span>."—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-50">50</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-51" id="Footnote-51"></a> It is obvious that so long as the vitality of a nation remains +unimpaired, misgovernment can be but a temporary ill. The +regenerative principle will be at work to remove the evil and +heal the wounds it has inflicted; and though the remedy be +sometimes violent, and throw the state into fearful convulsions, +it will seldom be found ineffectual. So long as the spirit of +liberty prevailed among the Romans, the Tarquiniuses and +Appiuses were as a straw before the storm of popular indignation; +but the death of Cæsar could but substitute a despot in +the stead of a mild and generous usurper. The first Brutus +might save the nation, because he was the expression of the +national sentiment; the second could not, because he was one +man opposed to millions. It is a common error to ascribe too +much to individual exertions, and whimsical philosophers have +amused themselves to trace great events to petty causes; but +a deeper inquiry will demonstrate that the great catastrophes +which arrest our attention and form the landmarks of history, +are but the inevitable result of all the whole chain of antecedent +events. Julius Cæsar and Napoleon Bonaparte were, indeed, +especially gifted for their great destinies, but the same gifts +could not have raised them to their exalted positions at any +other epoch than the one in which each lived. Those petty +causes are but the drop which causes the measure to overflow, +the pretext of the moment; or as the small fissure in the dyke +which produces the <em>crevasse</em>: the wall of waters stood behind. +No man can usurp supreme power, unless the prevailing tendency +of the nation favors it; no man can long persist in hurrying +a nation along in a course repulsive to it; and in this +sense, therefore, not with regard to its abstract justness, it is +undoubtedly true, that the voice of the nation is the voice of +God. It is the expression of what shall and must be.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-51">51</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-52" id="Footnote-52"></a> The author has neglected to advert to one very clear explanation +of this word, which, from its extensive popularity, +seems to me to deserve some notice. It is said, and very commonly +believed, that there is a physical degeneracy in mankind; +that a nation cultivating for a long time the arts of peace, and +enjoying the fruits of well-directed industry, loses the capacity +for warfare; in other words becomes effeminate, and, consequently, +less capable of defending itself against ruder, and, therefore, +more warlike invaders. It is further said, though with less +plausibility, that there is a general degeneracy of the human +race—that we are inferior in physical strength to our ancestors, +etc. If this theory could be supported by incontestable facts—and +there are many who think it possible—it would give to the +term degeneracy that real and tangible meaning which the author +alleges to be wanting. But a slight investigation will demonstrate +that it is more specious than correct. +</p><p> +In the first place, to prove that an advance in civilization +does not lessen the material puissance of a nation, but rather +increases it, we may point to the well-known fact that the most +civilized nations are the most formidable opponents in warfare, +because they have brought the means of attack and defence to +the greatest perfection. +</p><p> +But that for this strength they are not solely indebted to artificial +means, is proved by the history of modern civilized states. +The French now fight with as much martial ardor and intrepidity, +and with more success than they did in the times of Francis +I. or Louis XIV., albeit they have since both these epochs +made considerable progress in civilization, and this progress +has been most perceptible in those classes which form the bulk +and body of armies. England, though, perhaps, she could not +muster an army as large as in former times, has hearts as stout, +and arms as strong as those that gained for her imperishable +glory at Agincourt and Poitiers. The charge at Balaklava, rash +and useless as it may be termed, was worthy of the followers of +the Black Prince. +</p><p> +A theory to be correct, must admit of mathematical demonstration. +The most civilized nations, then, would be the most +effeminate; the most barbarous, the most warlike. And, descending +from nations to individuals, the most cultivated and +refined mind would be accompanied by a deficiency in many of +the manly virtues. Such an assertion is ridiculous. The most +refined and fastidious gentleman has never, as a class, displayed +less courage and fortitude than the rowdy and fighter by profession. +Men sprung from the bosom of the most polished +circles in the most civilized communities, have surpassed the +most warlike barbarians in deeds of hardihood and heroic +valor. +</p><p> +Civilization, therefore, produces no degeneracy; the cultivation +of the arts of peace, no diminution of manly virtues. We have +seen the peaceful burghers of free cities successfully resist the +trained bands of a superior foe; we have seen the artisans and +merchants of Holland invincible to the veteran armies of the +then most powerful prince of Christendom, backed as he was +by the inexhaustible treasures of a newly discovered hemisphere; +we have seen, in our times, troops composed of volunteers who +left their hearthstones to fight for their country, rout incredible +odds of the standing armies of a foe, who, for the last thirty years, +has known no peace. +</p><p> +I believe that an advanced state of civilization, accompanied +by long peace, gives rise to a certain <em>domestication</em> of man, that +is to say, it lays on a polish over the more ferocious or pugnacious +tendencies of his nature; because it, in some measure deprives +him of the opportunities of exercising them, but it cannot +deprive him of the power, should the opportunity present +itself. Let us suppose two brothers born in some of our great +commercial cities, one to enter a counting-house, the other to +settle in the western wilderness. The former might become a +polished, elegant, perhaps even dandified young gentleman; the +other might evince a supreme contempt for all the amenities of +life, be ever ready to draw his bowie-knife or revolver, however +slight the provocation. The country requires the services of +both; a great principle is at stake, and in some battle of Matamoras +or Buena Vista, the two brothers fight side by side; who +will be the braver? +</p><p> +I believe that both individual and national character admit of +a certain degree of pressure by surrounding circumstances; +the pressure removed, the character at once regains its original +form. See with what kindliness the civilized descendant +of the wild Teuton hunter takes to the hunter's life in new +countries, and how soon he learns to despise the comforts of +civilized life and fix his abode in the solitary wilderness. The +Normans had been settled over six centuries in the beautiful +province of France, to which they gave their name; their nobles +had frequented the most polished court in Europe, adapted +themselves to the fashions and requirements of life in a luxurious +metropolis; they themselves had learned to plough the soil +instead of the wave; yet in another hemisphere they at once +regained their ancient habits, and—as six hundred years before—became +the most dreaded pirates of the seas they infested; the +savage buccaneers of the Spanish main. I can see no difference +between Lolonnois and his followers, and the terrible men of the +north (his lineal ancestors) that ravaged the shores of the Seine +and the Rhine, and whose name is even yet mentioned with +horror every evening, in the other hemisphere, by thousands of +praying children: "God preserve us from the Northmen." +Morgan, the Welch buccaneer, who, with a thousand men, vanquished +five times as many well-equipped Spaniards, took their +principal cities, Porto Bello and Panama; who tortured his +captives to make them reveal the hiding-place of their treasure; +Morgan might have been—sixteen centuries notwithstanding—a +tributary chief to Caractacus, or one of those who opposed +Cæsar's landing in Britain. To make the resemblance still +more complete, the laws and regulations of these lawless bands +were a precise copy of those to which their not more savage +ancestors bound themselves. +</p><p> +I regret that my limited space precludes me from entering +into a more elaborate exposition of the futility of the theory +that civilization, or a long continued state of peace, can produce +physical degeneracy or inaptitude for the ruder duties of the +battle-field; but I believe that what I have said will suffice +to suggest to the thoughtful reader numerous confirmations of +my position; and I may, therefore, now refer him to Mr. Gobineau's +explanation of the term degeneracy.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-52">52</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-53" id="Footnote-53"></a> "Nothing but the great number of citizens in a state can +occasion the flourishing of the arts and sciences. Accordingly, +we see that, in all ages, it was great empires only which enjoyed +this advantage. In these great states, the arts, especially that +of agriculture, were soon brought to great perfection, and thus +that leisure afforded to a considerable number of men, which is +so necessary to study and speculation. The Babylonians, Assyrians, +and Egyptians, had the advantage of being formed into +regular, well-constituted states."—<cite>Origin of Laws and Sciences, +and their Progress among the most Ancient Nations.</cite> By President +<cite class="author">De Goguet</cite>. Edinburgh, 1761, vol. i. pp. 272-273.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-53">53</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-54" id="Footnote-54"></a> "Conquests, by uniting many nations under one sovereign, +have formed great and powerful empires, out of the ruins of +many petty states. In these great empires, men began insensibly +to form clearer views of politics, juster and more salutary +notions of government. Experience taught them to avoid the +errors which had occasioned the ruin of the nations whom they +had subdued, and put them upon taking measures to prevent +surprises, invasions, and the like misfortunes. With these views +they fortified cities, secured such passes as might have admitted +an enemy into their country, and kept a certain number of troops +constantly on foot. By these precautions, several States rendered +themselves formidable to their neighbors, and none durst +lightly attack powers which were every way so respectable. The +interior parts of such mighty monarchies were no longer exposed +to ravages and devastations. War was driven far from +the centre, and only infected the frontiers. The inhabitants of +the country, and of the cities, began to breathe in safety. The +calamities which conquests and revolutions had occasioned, disappeared; +but the blessings which had grown out of them, remained. +Ingenious and active spirits, encouraged by the repose +which they enjoyed, devoted themselves to study. <em>It was in the +bosom of great empires the arts were invented, and the sciences had +their birth.</em>"—<cite>Op. cit.</cite>, vol. i. Book 5, p. 326.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-54">54</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-55" id="Footnote-55"></a> The history of every great empire proves the correctness of +this remark. The conqueror never attempted to change the +manners or local institutions of the peoples subdued, but contented +himself with an acknowledgment of his supremacy, the +payment of tribute, and the rendering of assistance in war. +Those who have pursued a contrary course, may be likened to +an overflowing river, which, though it leaves temporary marks +of its destructive course behind, must, sooner or later, return to +its bed, and, in a short time, its invasions are forgotten, and +their traces obliterated.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-55">55</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-56" id="Footnote-56"></a> The most striking illustration of the correctness of this +reasoning, is found in Roman history, the earlier portion of +which is—thanks to Niebuhr's genius—just beginning to be understood. +The lawless followers of Romulus first coalesced with +the Sabines; the two nations united, then compelled the Albans +to raze their city to the ground, and settle in Rome. Next came +the Latins, to whom, also, a portion of the city was allotted for +settlement. These two conquered nations were, of course, not +permitted the same civil and political privileges as the conquerors, +and, with the exception of a few noble families among +them (which probably had been, from the beginning, in the interests +of the conquerors), these tribes formed the <em>plebs</em>. The +distinction by nations was forgotten, and had become a distinction +of <em>classes</em>. Then began the progress which Mr. Gobineau +describes. The Plebeians first gained their <em>tribunes</em>, who could +protect their interests against the one-sided legislation of the +dominant class; then, the right of discussing and deciding certain +public questions in the <em>comitia</em>, or public assembly. Next, +the law prohibiting intermarriage between the Patricians and +Plebeians was repealed; and thus, in course of time, the government +changed from an oligarchical to a democratic form. I +might go into details, or, I might mention other nations in which +the same process is equally manifest, but I think the above well-known +facts sufficient to bring the author's idea into a clear +light, and illustrate its correctness. The history of the Middle +Ages, the establishment of serfdom and its gradual abolition, +also furnish an analogue. +</p><p> +Wherever we see an hereditary aristocracy (whether called +class or caste), it will be found to originate in a race, which, if +no longer <em>dominant</em>, was once conqueror. Before the Norman +conquest, the English aristocracy was <em>Saxon</em>, there were no +nobles of the ancient British blood, east of Wales; after the +conquest, the aristocracy was <em>Norman</em>, and nine-tenths of the +noble families of England to this day trace, or pretend to trace, +their origin to that stock. The noble French families, anterior to +the Revolution, were almost all of <em>Frankish</em> or <em>Burgundian</em> origin. +The same observation applies everywhere else. In support of +my opinion, I have Niebuhr's great authority: "Wherever there +are castes, they are the consequence of foreign conquest and +subjugation; it is impossible for a nation to submit to such a +system, unless it be compelled by the calamities of a conquest. +By this means only it is, that, contrary to the will of a people, +circumstances arise which afterwards assume the character of a +division into classes or castes."—<cite>Lect. on Anc. Hist.</cite> (In the +English translation, this passage occurs in vol. i. p. 90.) +</p><p> +In conclusion, I would observe that, whenever it becomes +politic to flatter the mass of the people, the fact of conquest is +denied. Thus, English writers labored hard to prove that William +the Norman did not, in reality, conquer the Saxons. Some +time before the French Revolution, the same was attempted to +be proved in the case of the Germanic tribes in France. L'Abbé +du Bos, and other writers, taxed their ingenuity to disguise an +obvious fact, and to hide the truth under a pile of ponderous +volumes.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-56">56</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-57" id="Footnote-57"></a> "It has been a favorite thesis with many writers, to pretend +that the Saxon government was, at the time of the conquest, by +no means subverted; that William of Normandy legally acceded +to the throne, and, consequently, to the engagements of the +Saxon kings.... But, if we consider that the manner in +which the public power is formed in a state, is so very essential +a part of its government, and that a thorough change in this +respect was introduced into England by the conquest, we shall +not scruple to allow that a <em>new government</em> was established. Nay, +as almost the whole landed property in the kingdom was, at that +time, transferred to other hands, a new system of criminal justice +introduced, and the language of the law moreover altered, the +revolution may be said to have been such as is not, perhaps, to +be paralleled in the history of any other country."—<cite class="author">De Lolme's</cite> +<cite>English Constitution</cite>, c. i., <cite>note</cite> c.—"The battle of Hastings, and +the events which followed it, not only placed a Duke of Normandy +on the English throne, but gave up the whole population +of England to the tyranny of the Norman race. The subjugation +of a nation has seldom, even in Asia, been more complete."—<cite class="author">Macaulay's</cite> +<cite>History of England</cite>, vol. i. p. 10.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-57">57</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-58" id="Footnote-58"></a> This assertion seems self-evident; it may, however, be not +altogether irrelevant to the subject, to direct attention to a few +facts in illustration of it. Great national calamities like wars, +proscriptions, and revolutions, are like thunderbolts, striking +mostly the objects of greatest elevation. We have seen that a +conquering race generally, for a long time even after the conquest +has been forgotten, forms an aristocracy, which generally +monopolizes the prominent positions. In great political convulsions, +this aristocracy suffers most, often in numbers, and always +in proportion. Thus, at the battle of Cannæ, from 5,000 to 6,000 +Roman knights are said to have been slain, and, at all times, +the officer's dress has furnished the most conspicuous, and at +the same time the most important target for the death-dealing +stroke. In those fearful proscriptions, in which Sylla and +Marius vied with each other in wholesale slaughter, the number +of victims included two hundred senators and thirty-three ex-consuls. +That the major part of the rest were prominent men, +and therefore patricians, is obvious from the nature of this persecution. +Revolutions are most often, though not always, produced +by a fermentation among the mass of the population, who +have a heavy score to settle against a class that has domineered +and tyrannized over them. Their fury, therefore, is directed +against this aristocracy. I have now before me a curious document +(first published in the <cite>Prussian State-Gazette</cite>, in 1828, and +for which I am indebted to a little German volume, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Das Menschengeschlecht +auf seinem Gegenwärtigen Standpuncte</cite>, by <cite class="author" xml:lang="de" lang="de">Smidt-Phiseldeck</cite>), +giving a list of the victims that fell under the +guillotine by sentence of the revolutionary tribunal, from +August, 1792, to the 27th of July, 1794, in a little less than +two years. The number of victims there given is 2,774. Of +these, 941 are of rank unknown. The remaining 1,833 may be +divided in the following proportions:—</p> + + + +<div class="center"> +<table title="Victims of the guillotine (with known rank) from August, 1792 to the 27th of July, 1974" +border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" +summary="1,084 victims of the highest nobility; 535 of the gentry, 113 of the bourgeoisie, +for a total of 1,833 victims of known rank."> + <tr> + <td class="right">1,084</td> + <td class="left">highest nobility (princes, dukes, marshals of France, +generals, and other officers, etc. etc.)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right">636</td> + <td class="left">of the gentry (members of Parliament, judges, etc. etc.)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td class="right bb">113</td> + <td class="left">of the bourgeoisie (including non-commissioned officers +and soldiers.)</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td title="Total number of victims with known rank." class="right">1,833</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>Such facts require no comments.—H.</p> + +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-58">58</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-59" id="Footnote-59"></a> The recent insurrection in China has given rise to a great +deal of speculation, and various are the opinions that have +been formed respecting it. But it is now pretty generally +conceded that it is a great national movement, and, therefore, +must ultimately be successful. The history of this insurrection, +by Mr. Callery and Dr. Ivan (one the interpreter, and the other +the physician of the French embassy in China, and both well +known and reliable authorities) leaves no doubt upon the subject. +One of the most significant signs in this movement is +the cutting off the tails, and letting the hair grow, which is +being practised, says Dr. Ivan, in all the great cities, and in the +very teeth of the mandarins. (<cite>Ins. in China</cite>, p. 243.) Let not +the reader smile at this seemingly puerile demonstration, or +underrate its importance. Apparently trivial occurrences are +often the harbingers of the most important events. Were I to +see in the streets of Berlin or Vienna, men with long beards +or hats of a certain shape, I should know that serious troubles +are to be expected; and in proportion to the number of such +men, I should consider the catastrophe more or less near at +hand, and the monarch's crown in danger. When the Lombard +stops smoking in the streets, he meditates a revolution; and +France is comparatively safe, even though every street in Paris +is barricaded, and blood flows in torrents; but when bands march +through the streets singing the <em xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">ça ira</em>, we know that to-morrow +the <em>Red Republic</em> will be proclaimed. All these are silent, but +expressive demonstrations of the prevalence of a certain principle +among the masses. Such a one is the cutting off of the tail +among the Chinese. Nor is this a mere emblem. The shaved +crown and the tail are the brands of conquest, a mark of degradation +imposed by the Mantchoos on the subjugated race. The +Chinese have never abandoned the hope of one day expelling +their conquerors, as they did already once before. "Ever since +the fall of the Mings," says Dr. Ivan, "and the accession of the +Mantchoo dynasty, clandestine associations—these intellectual +laboratories of declining states—have been incessantly in operation. +The most celebrated of these secret societies, that of +the Triad, or the <em>three principles</em>, commands so extensive and +powerful an organization, that its members may be found throughout +China, and wherever the Chinese emigrate; so that there is +no great exaggeration in the Chinese saying: 'When three of us +are together, the Triad is among us.'" (<cite>Hist. of the Insur. in Ch.</cite>, +p. 112.) Again, the writer says: "The revolutionary impetus +is now so strong, the affairs of the pretender or chief of the insurrection +in so prosperous a condition, that the success of his +cause has nothing to fear from the loss of a battle. It would +require a series of unprecedented reverses to ruin his hopes" +(p. 243 and 245). +</p><p> +I have written this somewhat lengthy note to show that Mr. +Gobineau makes no rash assertion, when he says that the Mantchoos +are about to experience the same fate as their Tartar +predecessors.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-59">59</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-60" id="Footnote-60"></a> The author might have mentioned Russia in illustration of +his position. The star of no nation that we are acquainted with +has suffered an eclipse so total and so protracted, nor re-appeared +with so much brilliancy. Russia, whose history so many +believe to date from the time of Peter the Great only, was one +of the earliest actors on the stage of modern history. Its people +had adopted Christianity when our forefathers were yet +heathens; its princes formed matrimonial alliances with the +monarchs of Byzantine Rome, while Charlemagne was driving +the reluctant Saxon barbarians by thousands into rivers to be +baptized <i>en masse</i>. Russia had magnificent cities before Paris +was more than a collection of hovels on a small island of the +Seine. Its monarchs actually contemplated, and not without +well-founded hopes, the conquest of Constantinople, while the +Norman barges were devastating the coasts and river-shores of +Western Europe. Nay, to that far-off, almost polar region, the +enterprise of the inhabitants had attracted the genius of commerce +and its attendants, prosperity and abundance. One of +the greatest commercial cities of the first centuries after Christ, +one of the first of the Hanse-Towns, was the great city of Novogorod, +the capital of a republic that furnished three hundred +thousand fighting men. But the east of Europe was not destined +to outstrip the west in the great race of progress. The +millions of Tartars, that, locust-like—but more formidable—marked +their progress by hopeless devastation, had converted +the greater portion of Asia into a desert, and now sought a new +field for their savage exploits. Russia stood the first brunt, and +its conquest exhausted the strength of the ruthless foe, and +saved Western Europe from overwhelming ruin. In the beginning +of the thirteenth century, five hundred thousand Tartar +horsemen crossed the Ural Mountains. Slow, but gradual, was +their progress. The Russian armies were trampled down by +this countless cavalry. But the resistance must have been a +brave and vigorous one, for few of the invaders lived long enough +to see the conquest. Not until after a desperate struggle of +fifty years, did Russia acknowledge a Tartar master. Nor +were the conquerors even then allowed to enjoy their prize in +peace. For two centuries more, the Russians never remitted +their efforts to regain their independence. Each generation +transmitted to its posterity the remembrance of that precious +treasure, and the care of reconquering it. Nor were their efforts +unsuccessful. Year after year the Tartars saw the prize gliding +from their grasp, and towards the end of the fifteenth century, +we find them driven to the banks of the Volga, and the coasts of +the Black Sea. Russia now began to breathe again. But, +lo! during the long struggle, Pole and Swede had vied with the +Tartar in stripping her of her fairest domains. Her territory +extended scarce two hundred miles, in any direction from Moscow. +Her very name was unknown. Western Europe had forgotten +her. The same causes that established the feudal system +there, had, in the course of two centuries and a half, changed +a nation of freemen into a nation of serfs. The arts of peace +were lost, the military element had gained an undue preponderance, +and a band of soldiers, like the Pretorian Guards of Rome, +made and deposed sovereigns, and shook the state to its very +foundations. Yet here and there a vigorous monarch appeared, +who controlled the fierce element, and directed it to the weal of +the state. Smolensk, the fairest portion of the ancient Russian +domain, was re-conquered from the Pole. The Swede, also, was +forced to disgorge a portion of his spoils. But it was reserved +for Peter the Great and his successors to restore to Russia the +rank she had once held, and to which she was entitled. +</p><p> +I will not further trespass on the patience of the reader, now +that we have arrived at that portion of Russian history which +many think the first. I would merely observe that not only +did Peter add to his empire no territory that had not formerly +belonged to it, but even Catharine, at the first partition +of Poland (I speak not of the subsequent ones), merely +re-united to her dominion what once were integral portions. +The rapid growth of Russia, since she has reassumed her station +among the nations of the earth, is well known. Cities have +sprung up in places where once the nomad had pitched his tent. +A great capital, the handsomest in the world, has risen from the +marsh, within one hundred and fifty years after the founder, +whose name it perpetuates, had laid the first stone. Another +has risen from the ashes, within less than a decade of years +from the time when—a holocaust on the altar of patriotism—its +flames announced to the world the vengeance of a nation on an +intemperate aggressor. +</p><p> +Truly, it seems to me, that Mr. Gobineau could not have +chosen a better illustration of his position, that the mere accident +of conquest can not annihilate a nation, than this great +empire, in whose history conquest forms so terrible and so long +an episode, that the portion anterior to it is almost forgotten to +this day.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-60">60</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-61" id="Footnote-61"></a> The author of <cite>Democracy in America</cite> (vol. ii. book 3, ch. 1), +speculating upon the total want of sympathy among the various +classes of an aristocratic community, says: "Each caste has +its own opinions, feelings, rights, manners, and mode of living. +The members of each caste do not resemble the rest of their +fellow-citizens; they do not think and feel in the same manner, +and believe themselves a distinct race.... When the +chroniclers of the Middle Ages, who all belonged to the aristocracy +by birth and education, relate the tragical end of a noble, +their grief flows apace; while they tell, with the utmost indifference, +of massacres and tortures inflicted on the common people. +In this they were actuated by an <em>instinct</em> rather than by a +passion, for they felt no habitual hatred or systematic disdain +for the people: war between the several classes of the community +was not yet declared." The writer gives extracts from +Mme. de Sevigné's letters, displaying, to use his own words, +"a cruel jocularity which, in our day, the harshest man writing +to the most insensible person of his acquaintance would not +venture to indulge in; and yet Madame de Sevigné was not selfish +or cruel; she was passionately attached to her children, and +ever ready to sympathize with her friends, and she treated her +servants and vassals with kindness and indulgence." "Whence +does this arise?" asks M. De Tocqueville; "have we really more +sensibility than our forefathers?" When it is recollected, as +has been pointed out in a previous note, that the nobility of +France were of Germanic, and the peasantry of Celtic origin, +we will find in this an additional proof of the correctness of our +author's theory. Thanks to the revolution, the barriers that +separated the various ranks have been torn down, and continual +intermixture has blended the blood of the Frankish noble and +of the Gallic boor. Wherever this fusion has not yet taken +place, or but imperfectly, M. De Tocqueville's remarks still +apply.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-61">61</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-62" id="Footnote-62"></a> The spirit of clanship is so strong in the Arab tribes, and +their instinct of ethnical isolation so powerful, that it often +displays itself in a rather odd manner. A traveller (Mr. Fulgence +Fresnel, if I am not mistaken) relates that at Djidda, +where morality is at a rather low ebb, the same Bedouine who +cannot resist the slightest pecuniary temptation, would think +herself forever dishonored, if she were joined in lawful wedlock +to the Turk or European, to whose embrace she willingly yields +while she despises him.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-62">62</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><a name="Footnote-63" id="Footnote-63"></a> +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i11">The man<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of virtuous soul commands not, nor obeys.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Power, like a desolating pestilence,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pollutes whate'er it touches; and obedience,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Makes slaves of man, and of the human frame<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A mechanized automaton.</span> +</div> +<p class="citation"><cite class="author">Shelley</cite>, <cite>Queen Mab</cite>.</p> +</div> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-63">63</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-64" id="Footnote-64"></a> Montesquieu expresses a similar idea, in his usual epigrammatic +style. "The customs of an enslaved people," says he, +"are a part of their servitude; those of a free people, a part +of their liberty."—<cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Esprit des Lois</cite>, b. xix. c. 27.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-64">64</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-65" id="Footnote-65"></a> "A great portion of the peculiarities of the Spartan constitution +and their institutions was assuredly of ancient Doric +origin, and must have been rather given up by the other Dorians, +than newly invented and instituted by the Spartans."—<cite>Niebuhr's +Ancient History</cite>, vol. i. p. 306.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-65">65</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-66" id="Footnote-66"></a> See <a title="Go to Footnote 38 on Page 121." href="#Footnote-38">note</a> on <a title="Go to Page 121." href="#page121">page 121</a>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-66">66</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-67" id="Footnote-67"></a> The amalgamation of races in South America must indeed +be inconceivable. "I find," says Alex. von Humboldt, in 1826, +"by several statements, that if we estimate the population of +the whole of the Spanish colonies at fourteen or fifteen millions +of souls, there are, in that number, at most, <em>three</em> millions of +pure whites, including about 200,000 Europeans." (<cite>Pers. Nar.</cite>, +vol. i. p. 400.) Of the progress which this mongrel population +have made in civilization, I cannot give a better idea than by an +extract from Dr. Tschudi's work, describing the mode of ploughing +in some parts of Chili. "If a field is to be tilled, it is done +by two natives, who are furnished with long poles, pointed at +one end. The one thrusts his pole, pretty deeply, and in an +oblique direction, into the earth, so that it forms an angle with +the surface of the ground. The other Indian sticks his pole in, +at a little distance, and also obliquely, and he forces it beneath +that of his fellow-laborer, so that the first pole lies, as it were, +upon the second. The first Indian then presses on his pole, and +makes it work on the other, as a lever on its fulcrum, and the +earth is thrown up by the point of the pole. Thus they gradually +advance, until the whole field is furrowed by this laborious +process." (<cite>Dr. Tschudi, Travels in Peru, during the years 1838-1842.</cite> +London, 1847, p. 14.) I really do not think that a +counterpart to this could be found, except, perhaps, in the +manner of working the mines all over South America. Both +Darwin and Tschudi speak of it with surprise. Every pound +of ore is brought out of the shafts on men's shoulders. The +mines are drained of the water accumulating in them, in the +same manner, by means of water-tight bags. Dr. Tschudi describes +the process employed for the amalgamation of the quicksilver +with the silver ore. It is done by causing them to be trodden +together by horses', or human feet. Not only is this method +attended with incredible waste of material, and therefore very +expensive, but it soon kills the horses employed in it, while the +men contract the most fearful, and, generally, incurable diseases! +(<cite>Op. cit.</cite>, p. 331-334.)—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-67">67</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-68" id="Footnote-68"></a> A. von Humboldt, <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Examen critique de l'Histoire et de la +Géographie du N. C.</cite>, vol. ii. p. 129-130. +</p><p> +The same opinion is expressed by Mr. Humboldt in his <cite>Personal +Narrative</cite>. London, 1852, vol. i. p. 296.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-68">68</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-69" id="Footnote-69"></a> Speaking of the habit of tattooing among the South Sea Islanders, +Mr. Darwin says that even girls who had been brought +up in missionaries' houses, could not be dissuaded from this +practice, though in everything else, they seemed to have forgotten +the savage instincts of their race. "The wives of the missionaries +tried to prevent them, but a famous operator having +arrived from the South, they said: 'We really must have just +a few lines on our lips, else, when we grow old, we shall be so +ugly.'"—<cite>Journal of a Naturalist</cite>, vol. ii. p. 208.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-69">69</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-70" id="Footnote-70"></a> For the latest details, see Mr. Gustave d'Alaux's articles in +the <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Revue des Deux Mondes</cite>, 1853.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-70">70</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-71" id="Footnote-71"></a> The subjoined comparison of the exports of Haytien staple +products may not be uninteresting to many of our readers, +while it serves to confirm the author's assertion. I extract it +from a statistical table in Mackenzie's report to the British +government, upon the condition of the then republic (now +empire). Mr. Mackenzie resided there as special <em>envoyé</em> several +years, for the purpose of collecting authentic information for +his government, and his statements may therefore be relied +upon. (<cite>Notes on Hayti</cite>, vol. ii. note FF. London, 1830.) +</p> + + +<div class="center"> +<table title="Comparison of three crop yeilds, in lbs, from 1789 to 1826" +border="0" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" +summary="Coffee requires the least amount of labor and therefore yeild decreased the least. Sugar +requires the most labor and thus yeild decreased the most."> + <tr> + <th></th> + <th scope="col">SUGAR.<br />lbs.</th> + <th scope="col">COTTON.<br />lbs.</th> + <th scope="col">COFFEE.<br />lbs.</th> + </tr> + <tr> + <th scope="row">1789</th> + <td class="right">141,089,831</td> + <td class="right">7,004,274</td> + <td class="right">76,835,219</td> + </tr> + <tr> + <th scope="row">1826</th> + <td class="right">32,864</td> + <td class="right">620,972</td> + <td class="right">32,189,784</td> + </tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p>It will be perceived, from these figures, that the decrease is +greatest in that staple which requires the most laborious cultivation. +Thus, sugar requires almost unremitting toil; coffee, +comparatively little. All branches of industry have fearfully +decreased; some of them have ceased entirely; and the small and +continually dwindling commerce of that wretched country consists +now mainly of articles of spontaneous growth. The statistics +of imports are in perfect keeping with those of exports. +(<cite>Op. cit.</cite>, vol. ii. p. 183.) As might be expected from such a +state of things, the annual expenditure in 1827 was estimated +at a little more than <em>double</em> the amount of the annual revenue! +(<cite>Ibid.</cite>, "Finance.") +</p><p> +That matters have not improved under the administration of +that Most Gracious, Most Christian monarch, the Emperor +Faustin I., will be seen by reference to last year's <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Annuaire de +la Revue del deux Mondes</cite>, "Haiti," p. 876, <i>et seq.</i>, where some +curious details about his majesty and his majesty's sable subjects +will be found.</p> + +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-71">71</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-72" id="Footnote-72"></a> Upon this subject, consult Prichard, d'Orbigny, and A. de +Humboldt.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-72">72</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-73" id="Footnote-73"></a> I recollect having read, several years ago, in a Jesuit missionary +journal (I forget its name and date, but am confident +that the authority is a reliable one), a rather ludicrous account +of an instance of this kind. One of the fathers, who had a little +isolated village under his charge, had occasion to leave his flock +for a time, and his place, unfortunately, could not be replaced +by another. He therefore called the most promising of his +neophytes, and committed to their care the domestic animals +and agricultural implements with which the society had provided +the newly-converted savages, then left them with many +exhortations and instructions. His absence being prolonged +beyond the period anticipated, the Indians thought him dead, +and instituted a grand funeral feast in his honor, at which they +slaughtered all the oxen, and roasted them by fires made of the +ploughs, hoe-handles, etc.; and he arrived just in time to witness +the closing scenes of this mourning ceremony.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-73">73</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-74" id="Footnote-74"></a> Consult, among others, Carus: <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Uber ungleiche Befähigung der +vershiedenen Menschen-stämme für höhere geistige Entwickelung.</cite> +Leipzig, 1849, p. 96 <i>et passim</i>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-74">74</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-75" id="Footnote-75"></a> Prichard, <cite>Natural History of Man</cite>, vol. ii. +</p><p> +See particularly the recent researches of E. G. Squier, published +in 1847, under the title: <cite>Observations on the Aboriginal +Monuments of the Mississippi Valley</cite>, and also in various late +reviews and other periodicals.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-75">75</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-76" id="Footnote-76"></a> The very singular construction of these tumuli, and the +numerous utensils found in them, occupy at this moment the +penetration and talent of American antiquaries. I shall have +occasion, in a subsequent volume, to express an opinion as to +their value in the inquiries about a former civilization; at +present, I shall only say that their almost incredible antiquity +cannot be called in question. Mr. Squier is right in considering +this proved by the fact merely, that the skeletons exhumed +from these tumuli crumble into dust as soon as exposed to the +atmosphere, although the condition of the soil in which they +lie, is the most favorable possible; while the human remains +under the British cromlichs, and which have been interred for +at least eighteen centuries, are perfectly solid. It is easily conceived, +therefore, that between the first possessors of the American +soil and the Lenni-Lenape and other tribes, there is no +connection. Before concluding this note, I cannot refrain from +praising the industry and skill manifested by American scholars +in the study of the antiquities of their immense continent. To +obviate the difficulties arising from the excessive fragility of the +exhumed skulls, many futile attempts were made, but the object +was finally accomplished by pouring into them a bituminous +preparation which instantly solidifies and thus preserves the +osseous parts. This process, which requires many precautions, +and as much skill as promptitude, is said to be generally successful.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-76">76</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-77" id="Footnote-77"></a> Ancient India required, on the part of its first white colonists, +immense labor of cultivation and improvement. (See +Lassen, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Indische Alterthumskunde</cite>, vol. i.) As to Egypt, see what +Chevalier Bunsen, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Ægypten's Stelle in der Weltgeschichte</cite>, says +of the fertilization of the Fayoum, that gigantic work of the +earliest sovereigns.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-77">77</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-78" id="Footnote-78"></a> "Why have accidental circumstances always prevented some +from rising, while they have only stimulated others to higher +attainments?"—<cite>Dr. Kneeland's Introd. to Hamilton Smith's Nat. +Hist. of Man</cite>, p. 95.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-78">78</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-79" id="Footnote-79"></a> Salvador, <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Histoire des Juifs</cite>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-79">79</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-80" id="Footnote-80"></a> M. Saint-Marc Girardin, <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Revue des Deux Mondes</cite>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-80">80</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-81" id="Footnote-81"></a> See, upon this often-debated subject, the opinion—somewhat +acerbly expressed—of a learned historian and philologist:— +</p><p> +"A great number of writers have suffered themselves to be +persuaded that the country made the nation; that the Bavarians +and Saxons were predestined, by the nature of their soil, to become +what they are to-day; that Protestantism belonged not to +the regions of the south; and that Catholicism could not penetrate +to those of the north; and many similar things. Men +who interpret history according to their own slender knowledge, +their narrow hearts, and near-sighted minds, would, by the same +reasoning, make us believe that the Jews had possessed such +and such qualities—more or less clearly understood—because +they inhabited Palestine, and not India or Greece. But, if these +philosophers, so dextrous in proving whatever flatters their notions, +were to reflect that the Holy Land contained, in its limited +compass, peoples of the most dissimilar religions and modes of +thinking, that between them, again, and their present successors, +there is the utmost difference conceivable, although the country +is still the same; they would understand how little influence, +upon the character and civilization of a nation has the country +they inhabit."—<cite class="author">Ewald</cite>, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Geschichte des Volkes Israel</cite>, vol. i. p. 259.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-81">81</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-82" id="Footnote-82"></a> Although the success of the Chinese missions has not been +proportionate to the self-devoting zeal of its laborers, there yet +are, in China, a vast number of believers in the true faith. M. +Huc tells us, in the relation of his journey, that, in almost every +place where he and his fellow-traveller stopped, they could perceive, +among the crowds that came to stare at the two "Western +devils" (as the celestials courteously call us Europeans), men +making furtively, and sometimes quite openly, the sign of the +cross. Among the nomadic hordes of the table-lands of Central +Asia, the number of Christians is much greater than among the +Chinese, and much greater than is generally supposed. (See +<cite>Annals of the Propagation of the Faith</cite>, No. 135, et seq.)—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-82">82</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-83" id="Footnote-83"></a> The tutelary divinity was generally a typification of the +national character. A commercial or maritime nation, would +worship Mercury or Neptune; an aggressive and warlike one, +Hercules or Mars; a pastoral one, Pan; an agricultural one, Ceres +or Triptolemus; one sunk in luxury, as Corinth, would render +almost exclusive homage to Venus. +</p><p> +As the author observes, all ancient governments were more or +less theocratical. The regulations of castes among the Hindoos +and Egyptians were ascribed to the gods, and even the most +absolute monarch dared not, and could not, transgress the limits +which the immortals had set to his power. This so-called divine +legislation often answered the same purpose as the charters of +modern constitutional monarchies. The authority of the Persian +kings was confined by religious regulations, and this has +always been the case with the sultans of Turkey. Even in +Rome, whose population had a greater tendency for the positive +and practical, than for the things of another world, we find +the traces of theocratical government. The sibylline books, the +augurs, etc., were something more than a vulgar superstition; +and the latter, who could stop or postpone the most important +proceedings, by declaring the omens unpropitious, must have +possessed very considerable political influence, especially in the +earlier periods. The rude, liberty-loving tribes of Scandinavia, +Germany, Gaul, and Britain, were likewise subjected to their +druids, or other priests, without whose permission they never +undertook any important enterprise, whether public or private. +Truly does our author observe, that Christianity came to deliver +mankind from such trammels, though the mistaken or interested +zeal of some of its servants, has so often attempted, and successfully, +to fasten them again. How ill adapted Christianity +would be, even in a political point of view, for a theocratical +formula, is well shown by Mr. Guizot, in his <cite>Hist. of Civilization</cite>, +vol. i. p. 213.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-83">83</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-84" id="Footnote-84"></a> I have already pointed out, in my introduction (<a title="Go to page 41." href="#page41">p. 41-43</a>), +some of the fatal consequences that spring from that doctrine. +It may not, however, be out of place here to mention another. +The communists, socialists, Fourrierites, or whatever names such +enemies to our social system assume, have often seduced the +unwary and weak-minded, by the plausible assertion that they +wished to restore the social system of the first Christians, who +held all goods in common, etc. Many religious sectaries have +created serious disturbances under the same pretence. It seems, +indeed, reasonable to suppose, that if Christianity had given its +exclusive sanction to any particular social and political system, +it must have been that which the first Christian communities +adopted.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-84">84</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-85" id="Footnote-85"></a> See <a title="Go to footnote 67 on page 187." href="#Footnote-67">note</a> on <ins class="correction" title="I believe the translator meant 'page 187'">page 188</ins>.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-85">85</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-86" id="Footnote-86"></a> <cite>Natural History of Man</cite>, p. 390. London, 1843.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-86">86</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-87" id="Footnote-87"></a> <cite>Synopsis of the Indian Tribes of North America.</cite></p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-87">87</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-88" id="Footnote-88"></a> Had I desired to contest the accuracy of the assertions +upon which Mr. Prichard bases his arguments in this case, I +should have had in my favor the weighty authority of Mr. De +Tocqueville, who, in speaking of the Cherokees, says: "What +has greatly promoted the introduction of European habits +among these Indians, is the presence of so great a number of +half-breeds. The man of mixed race—participating as he does, +to a certain extent, in the enlightenment of the father, without, +however, entirely abandoning the savage manner of the mother—forms +the natural link between civilization and barbarism. +As the half-breeds increase among them, we find savages modify +their social condition, and change their manners." (<cite>Dem. in Am.</cite>, +vol. i. p. 412.) Mr. De Tocqueville ends by predicting that the +Cherokees and Creeks, albeit they are half-breeds, and not, as +Mr. Prichard affirms, pure aborigines, will, nevertheless, disappear +before the encroachments of the whites.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-88">88</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-89" id="Footnote-89"></a> "When four pieces of cards were laid before them, each +having a number pronounced <em>once</em> in connection with it, they +will, after a re-arrangement of the pieces, select any one named +by its number. They also play at domino, and with so much +skill as to triumph over biped opponents, whining if the adversary +plays a wrong piece, or if they themselves are deficient in +the right one."—<cite>Vest. of Cr.</cite>, p. 236.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-89">89</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-90" id="Footnote-90"></a> In those portions of the present France, over one million +and a half of the inhabitants speak German. The pure Gauls +in the Landes have not yet learned the French language, and +speak a peculiar—probably their original—<i>patois</i>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-90">90</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-91" id="Footnote-91"></a> With the exception of Normandy.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-91">91</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-92" id="Footnote-92"></a> See <a title="Go to page 183." href="#page183">p. 183</a>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-92">92</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-93" id="Footnote-93"></a> I am not aware that any writer has ever presumed to doubt +this fact except Mr. Guizot, who dismisses it with a sneer. +Fortunately, a sneer is not an argument, though it often has +more weight.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-93">93</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-94" id="Footnote-94"></a> Hazlitt's translation, vol. i. p 21. New York, 1855.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-94">94</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-95" id="Footnote-95"></a> A careful comparison of Mr. Guizot's views with those expressed +by Count Gobineau upon this interesting subject convinced +me that the differences of opinion between these two +investigators required a more careful and minute examination +than the author has thought necessary. With this view, I subjoin +further extracts from the celebrated "<cite>History of Civilization +in Europe</cite>," from which, I think, it will appear that few of the +great truths comprised in the definition of <em>civilization</em> have escaped +the penetration and research of the illustrious writer, but +that, being unable to divest himself of the idea of <em>unity</em> of +civilization, he has necessarily fallen into an error, with which +a great metaphysician justly charges so many reasoners. "It +is hard," says Locke, speaking of the abuse of words, "to find +a discourse written on any subject, especially of controversy, +wherein one shall not observe, if he read with attention, the +same words (and those commonly the most material in the discourse, +and upon which the argument turns) used sometimes for +one collection of simple ideas, and sometimes for another.... +A man, in his accompts with another, might with as much +fairness, make the characters of numbers stand sometimes for +one, and sometimes for another collection of units (<i>e. g.</i>, this +character, 3, stand sometimes for three, sometimes for four, and +sometimes for eight), as, in his discourse or reasoning, make the +same words stand for different collections of simple ideas." +</p> +<p class="tbreak"> +Mr. Guizot opens his first lecture by declaring his intention +of giving a "general survey of the history of <em>European civilization</em>, +of its <em>origin</em>, its <em>progress</em>, its <em>end</em>, its <em>character</em>. I say European +civilization, because there is evidently so striking a uniformity +in the civilization of the different states of Europe, as +fully to warrant this appellation. Civilization has flowed to +them all from sources so much alike, it is so connected in them +all—notwithstanding the great differences of time, of place, and +circumstances—by the same principles, and it tends in them all +to bring about the same results, that no one will doubt of there +being <em>a civilization essentially European</em>." +</p><p> +Here, then, Mr. Guizot acknowledges one great truth contended +for in this volume; he virtually recognizes the fact that +there may be other civilizations, having different origins, a different +progress, different characters, different ends. +</p><p> +"At the same time, it must be observed, that this civilization +cannot be found in—its history cannot be collected from—the +history of any single state of Europe. However similar in its +general appearance throughout the whole, its variety is not less +remarkable, nor has it ever yet developed itself completely in +any particular country. Its characteristic features are widely +spread, and we shall be obliged to seek, as occasion may require, +in England, in France, in Germany, in Spain, for the elements +of its history." +</p><p> +This is precisely the idea expressed in my introduction, that +according to the character of a nation, its civilization manifests +itself in various ways; in some, by perfection in the arts, useful +or polite; in others, by development of political forms, and +their practical application, etc. If I had then wished to support +my opinion by a great authority, I should, assuredly, have +quoted Mr. Guizot, who, a few pages further on, says:— +</p><p> +"Wherever the exterior condition of man becomes enlarged, +quickened, and improved; wherever the intellectual nature of +man distinguishes itself by its energy, brilliancy, and its grandeur; +wherever these signs occur, notwithstanding the gravest +imperfections in the social system, there man proclaims and +applauds a civilization." +</p><p> +"<em>Notwithstanding the gravest imperfections in the social system</em>," +says Mr. Guizot, yet in the series of hypotheses, quoted in the +text, in which he attempts a negative definition of civilization, +by showing what civilization is <em>not</em>, he virtually makes a political +form the test of civilization. +</p><p> +In another passage, again, he says that civilization "is a +course for humanity to run—a destiny for it to accomplish. +Nations have transmitted, from age to age, something to their +successors which is never lost, but which grows, and continues +as a common stock, and will thus be carried on to the end of all +things. For my part (he continues), I feel assured that human +nature has such a destiny; that a general civilization pervades +the human race; that at every epoch it augments; and that +there, consequently, is a universal history of civilization to be +written." +</p><p> +It must be obvious to the reader who compares these extracts, +that Mr. Guizot expresses a totally distinct idea or collection of +ideas in each. +</p><p> +First, the civilization of a particular nation, which exists +"wherever the intellectual nature of man distinguishes itself +by its energy, brilliancy, and grandeur." Such a civilization +may flourish, "notwithstanding the greatest imperfections in +the social system." +</p><p> +Secondly, Mr. Guizot's <em xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">beau-idéal</em> of the best, most perfect +civilization, where the political forms insure the greatest happiness, +promote the most rapid—yet well-regulated—progress. +</p><p> +Thirdly, a great system of particular civilizations, as that of +Europe, the various elements of which "are connected by the +same principles, and tend all to bring about the same general +results." +</p><p> +Fourthly, a supposed general progress of the whole human +race toward a higher state of perfection. +</p><p> +To all these ideas, provided they are not confounded one with +another, I have already given my assent. (See <cite>Introduction</cite>, <a title="Go to page 51." href="#page51">p. 51</a>.) +With regard to the latter, however, I would observe that it by +no means militates against a belief in the intellectual imparity +of races, and the permanency of this imparity. As in a +society composed of individuals, all enjoy the fruits of the +general progress, though all have not contributed to it in equal +measure, and some not at all: so, in that society, of which we +may suppose the various branches of the human family to be +the members, even the inferior participate more or less in the +benefits of intellectual labor, of which they would have been +incapable. Because I can transport myself with almost the +swiftness of a bird from one place to another, it does not follow +that—though I profit by Watt's genius—I could have invented +the steam-engine, or even that I understand the principles upon +which that invention is based.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-95">95</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-96" id="Footnote-96"></a> W. Von Humboldt, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Ueber die Kawi-Sprache auf der Insel +Java; Einleitung</cite>, vol. i. p. 37. Berlin. "<span xml:lang="de" lang="de">Die <em>Civilization</em> ist die +Vermenschlichung der Völker in ihren äusseren Einrichtungen +und Gebräuchen, und der darauf Bezug habenden inneren Gesinnung.</span>"</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-96">96</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-97" id="Footnote-97"></a> William Von Humboldt. <span xml:lang="de" lang="de">"Die Kultur fügt dieser Veredlung +des gesellschaftlichen Zustandes Wissenschaft und Kunst +hinzu."</span></p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-97">97</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-98" id="Footnote-98"></a> W. Von Humboldt, <cite>op. cit.</cite>, p. 37: <span xml:lang="de" lang="de">"Wenn wir in unserer +Sprache <em>Bildung</em> sagen, so meinen wir damit etwas zugleich +Höheres und mehr Innerlicheres, nämlich die Sinnesart, die sich +aus der Erkenntniss und dem Gefühle des gesammten geistigen +und sittlichen Streben harmonish auf die Empfindung und den +Charakter ergiesst."</span></p> + +<p>As nothing can exceed the difficulty of rendering an abstract +idea from the French into English, except to transmit the same +from German into French, and as if <em>all</em> these processes must be +undergone, the identity of the idea is greatly endangered, I +have thought proper to translate at once from the original German, +and therefore differ somewhat from Mr. Gobineau, who +gives it thus: <span xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">"L'homme formé, c'est-à-dire, l'homme qui, dans +sa nature, possède quelque chose de plus haut, de plus intime +à la fois, c'est-à-dire, une façon de comprendre qui répand harmonieusement +sur la sensibilité et le charactère les impressions +qu'elle reçoit de l'activité intellectuelle et morale dans son ensemble."</span> +I have taken great pains to express clearly Mr. Von +Humboldt's idea, and have therefore amplified the word <em>Sinnesart</em>, +which has not its precise equivalent in English.—<cite class="author">Trans.</cite></p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-98">98</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-99" id="Footnote-99"></a> See <a title="Go to page 154." href="#page154">page 154</a>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-99">99</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-100" id="Footnote-100"></a> Mr. Klemm (<cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Allgemeine Culturgeschichte der Menschheit</cite>, +Leipzig, 1849) adopts, also, a division of all races into two categories, +which he calls respectively the <em>active</em> and the <em>passive</em>. I +have not had the advantage of perusing his book, and cannot, +therefore, say whether his idea is similar to mine. It would +not be surprising that, in pursuing the same road, we should +both have stumbled over the same truth.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-100">100</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-101" id="Footnote-101"></a> The translator has here permitted himself a deviation from +the original. Mr. Gobineau, to express his idea, borrows from +the symbolism of the Hindoos, where the feminine principle is +represented by Prakriti, and the masculine by Purucha, and +calls the two categories of races respectively feminine and +masculine. But as he "thereby wishes to express nothing but a +mutual fecundation, without ascribing any superiority to either," +and as the idea seems fully rendered by the words used in the +translation, the latter have been thought preferable, as not so +liable to misrepresentation and misconception.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-101">101</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-102" id="Footnote-102"></a> See a quotation from De Tocqueville to the same effect, +<a title="Go to Page 77." href="#page77">p. 77.</a></p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-102">102</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-103" id="Footnote-103"></a> One striking observation, in connection with this fact, Mr. +Gobineau has omitted to make, probably not because it escaped +his sagacity, but because he is himself a Roman Catholic. +Wherever the Teutonic element in the population is predominant, +as in Denmark, Sweden, Holland, England, Scotland, +Northern Germany, and the United States, Protestantism prevails; +wherever, on the contrary, the Germanic element is subordinate, +as in portions of Ireland, in South America, and the +South of Europe, Roman Catholicism finds an impregnable +fortress in the hearts of the people. An ethnographical chart, +carefully made out, would indicate the boundaries of each in +Christendom. I do not here mean to assert that the Christian +religion is accessible only to certain races, having already emphatically +expressed my opinion to the contrary. I feel firmly +convinced that a Roman Catholic may be as good and pious a +Christian as a member of any other Christian Church whatever, +but I see in this fact the demonstration of that leading characteristic +of the Germanic races—independence of thought, which +incites them to seek for truth, even in religion, for themselves; +to investigate everything, and take nothing upon trust. +</p><p> +I have, moreover, in favor of my position, the high authority +of Mr. Macaulay: "The Reformation," says that distinguished +essayist and historian, "was a national as well as a moral +revolt. It had been not only an insurrection of the laity +against the clergy, but <em>also an insurrection of the great German +race against an alien domination</em>. It is a most significant +circumstance, that no large society of which the tongue is not +Teutonic, has ever turned Protestant, and that, wherever a +language derived from ancient Rome is spoken, the religion of +modern Rome to this day prevails." (<cite>Hist. of England</cite>, vol. i. +p. 53.)—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-103">103</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-104" id="Footnote-104"></a> Thus Sparta and Athens, respectively, stood at the head of +the oligarchic and democratic parties, and the alternate preponderance +of either of the two often inundated each state with +blood. Yet Sparta and Athens, and the partisans of each in +every state, possessed the spirit of liberty and independence in +an equal degree. Themistocles and Aristides, the two great +party leaders of Athens, vied with each other in patriotism. +</p><p> +This uniformity of general views and purpose, Mr. De Tocqueville +found in the United States, and he correctly deduces from +it the conclusion that "though the citizens are divided into 24 +(31) distinct sovereignties, they, nevertheless, constitute a +single nation, and form more truly a state of society, than many +peoples of Europe, living under the same legislation, and the +same prince." (Vol. i. p. 425.) This is an observation which +Europeans make last, because they do not find it at home; and +in return, it prevents the American from acquiring a clear conception +of the state of Europe, because he thinks the disputes +there involve no deeper questions than the disputes around him. +In certain fundamental principles, all Americans agree, to whatever +party they may belong; certain general characteristics belong +to them all, whatever be the differences of taste, and individual +preferences; it is not so in Europe—England, perhaps, +excepted, and Sweden and Denmark. But I will not anticipate +the author.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-104">104</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-105" id="Footnote-105"></a> It is well known that, in both Greece and Rome, the education +of the children of wealthy families was very generally intrusted +to slaves. Some of the greatest philosophers of ancient +Greece were bondsmen.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-105">105</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-106" id="Footnote-106"></a> China has no hereditary nobility. The class of mandarins +is composed of those who have received diplomas in the great +colleges with which the country abounds. A decree of the Emperor +<em class="smcap">Jin-Tsoung</em>, who reigned from 1023 to 1063, regulated +the modes of examination, to which all, indiscriminately, are +admitted. The candidates are examined more than once, and +every precaution is taken to prevent frauds. Thus, the son of +the poorest peasant may become a mandarin, but, as he afterwards +is dependent on the emperor for office or employment, +this dignity is often of but little practical value. Still, there +are numerous instances on record, in the history of China, of +men who have risen from the lowest ranks to the first offices of +the State, and even to the imperial dignity. (See <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Pauthier's Histoire +de la Chine</cite>.)—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-106">106</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-107" id="Footnote-107"></a> John F. Davis, <cite>The Chinese</cite>. London, 1840, p. 274. "Three +or four volumes of any ordinary work of the octavo size and +shape, may be had for a sum equivalent to two shillings. A +Canton bookseller's manuscript catalogue marked the price of +the four books of Confucius, including the commentary, at a +price rather under half a crown. The cheapness of their common +literature is occasioned partly by the mode of printing, but +partly also by the low price of paper." +</p><p> +These are Canton prices; in the interior of the empire, books +are still cheaper, even in proportion to the value of money in +China. Their classic works are sold at a proportionably lower +price than the very refuse of our literature. A pamphlet, or +small tale, may be bought for a sapeck, about the seventeenth +part of a cent; an ordinary novel, for a little more or less than +one cent.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-107">107</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-108" id="Footnote-108"></a> There are certain offences for which the punishment is remitted, +if the culprit is able to explain lucidly the nature and +object of the law respecting them. (See <cite>Huc's Trav. in China</cite>, vol. +ii. p. 252.) In the same place, Mr. Huc bears witness to the +correctness of our author's assertion. "Measures are taken," +says he, "not only to enable the magistrates to understand perfectly +the laws they are called upon to apply, but also to diffuse +a knowledge of them among the people at large. All persons in +the employment of the government, are ordered to make the code +their particular study; and a special enactment provides, that +at certain periods, all officers, in all localities, shall be examined +upon their knowledge of the laws by their respective superiors; +and if their answers are not satisfactory, they are punished, the +high officials by the retention of a month's pay; the inferior +ones by forty strokes of the bamboo." It must not be imagined +that Mr. Huc speaks of the Chinese in the spirit of a panegyrist. +Any one who reads this highly instructive and amusing book +(now accessible to English readers by a translation), will soon +be convinced of the contrary. He seldom speaks of them to +praise them.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-108">108</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-109" id="Footnote-109"></a> Op. cit., p. 100.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-109">109</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-110" id="Footnote-110"></a> The reader will remember that <em class="smcap">Diocletian</em>, who, the son +of a slave, rose from the rank of a common soldier, to the +throne of the empire of the world, associated with himself in +the government, his friend <em class="smcap">Maximian</em>, A. D. 286. After six +years of this joint reign, they took two other partners, <em class="smcap">Galerius</em> +and <em class="smcap">Constantius</em>. Thus, the empire, though nominally +one sovereignty, had in reality four supreme heads. Under +Constantine the Great, the imperial unity was restored; but at +his decease, the purple was again parcelled out among his sons +and nephews. A permanent division of the empire, however, +was not effected until the death of Theodosius the Great, who +for sixteen years had enjoyed undivided power.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-110">110</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-111" id="Footnote-111"></a> It is not universally known that the various populations +of France differ, not only in character, but in physical appearance. +The native of the southern departments is easily known +from the native of the central and northern. The average +stature in the north is said to be an inch and a half more than +in the south. This difference is easily perceptible in the regiments +drawn from either.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-111">111</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-112" id="Footnote-112"></a> Many of these patois bear but little resemblance to the +French language: the inhabitants of the Landes, for example, +speak a tongue of their own, which, I believe, has roots entirely +different. For the most part, they are unintelligible to those +who have not studied them. Over a million and a half of the +population of France speak German or German dialects.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-112">112</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-113" id="Footnote-113"></a> Mr. Gobineau's remarks apply with equal, and, in some +cases, with greater force, to other portions of Europe, as I had +myself ample means for observing. I have always considered +the character of the European peasantry as the most difficult +problem in the social system of those countries. Institutions +cannot in all cases account for it. In Germany, for instance, +education is general and even compulsory: I have never met a +man under thirty that could not read and write. Yet, each +place has its local <i>patois</i>, which no rustic abandons, for it would +be deemed by his companions a most insufferable affectation. +I have heard ministers in the pulpit use local dialects, of which +there are over five hundred in Germany alone, and most of them +widely different. Together with their <i>patois</i>, the rustics preserve +their local costumes, which mostly date from the Middle +Ages. But the peculiarity of their manners, customs, and +modes of thinking, is still more striking. Their superstitions +are often of the darkest, and, at best, of the most pitiable nature. +I have seen hundreds of poor creatures, males and females, +on their pilgrimage to some far distant shrine in expiation +of their own sins or those of others who pay them to go in +their place. On these expeditions they start in great numbers, +chanting <i>Aves</i> on the way the whole day long, so that you can +hear a large band of them for miles. Each carries a bag on +the back or head, containing their whole stock of provisions for +a journey of generally from one to two weeks. At night, they +sleep in barns, or on stacks of hay in the fields. If you converse +with them, you will find them imbued with superstitions +absolutely idolatrous. Yet they all know how to read and +write. The perfect isolation in which these creatures live from +the world, despite that knowledge, is altogether inconceivable to +an American. As Mr. Gobineau says of the French peasants, +they believe themselves a distinct race. There is little or no +discontent among them; the revolutionary fire finds but scanty +fuel among these rural populations. But they look upon those +who govern and make the laws as upon different beings, created +especially for that purpose; the principles which regulate +their private conduct, the whole sphere of their ideas, are peculiar +to themselves. In one word, they form, not a class, but a +caste, with lines of demarcation as clearly defined as the castes +of India. I have said before that this is not from want of education; +nor can any other explanation of the mystery be found. +It is not poverty, for among these rustics there are many +wealthy people, and, in general, they are not so poor as the +lower classes in cities. Nor do the laws restrain them within +the limits of a caste. In Germany, hereditary aristocracy is +almost obsolete. The ranks of the actual aristocracy are daily +recruited from the burgher classes. The highest offices of the +various states are often found in possession of untitled men, or +men with newly created titles. The colleges and universities +are open to all, and great facilities are afforded even to the +poorest. Yet these differences between various parts of the +population remain, and this generally in those localities which +the ethnographer describes as strongly tinctured with non-Teutonic +elements.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-113">113</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-114" id="Footnote-114"></a> A nurse from Tours had put a bird into the hands of her +little ward, and was teaching him to pull out the feathers and +wings of the poor creature. When the parents reproached her +for giving him this lesson of wickedness, she answered: "C'est +pour le rendre <em>fier</em>."—(It is to make him fierce or high-spirited.) +This answer of 1847 is in strict accordance with the most approved +maxims of education of the nurse's ancestors in the times +of Vercingetorix.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-114">114</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-115" id="Footnote-115"></a> A few years ago, a church-warden was to be elected in a +very small and very obscure parish of French Brittany, that +part of the former province which the real Britons used to call +the <em lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">pays Gallais</em>, or Gallic land. The electors, who were all +peasants, deliberated two days without being able to agree upon +a selection, because the candidate, a very honest, wealthy, and +highly respected man and a good Christian, was a <em>foreigner</em>. +Now, this <em>foreigner</em> was born in the locality, and his father had +resided there before him, and had also been born there, but it +was recollected that his grandfather, who had been dead many +years, and whom no one in the assembly had known, came from +somewhere else.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-115">115</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-116" id="Footnote-116"></a> This is no exaggeration, as every one acquainted with +French history knows. In the great revolution of the last century, +the peasantry of France took no interest and no part. In +the Vendée, indeed, they fought, and fought bravely, for the +ancient forms, their king, and their feudatory lords. Everywhere +else, the rural districts remained in perfect apathy. The +revolutions since then have been decided in Paris. The <i>émeutes</i> +seldom extended beyond the walls of the great cities. It is a well-known +fact, that in many of the rural districts, the peasants did +not hear of the expulsion of the Bourbon dynasty, until years +afterwards, and even then had no conception of the nature of the +change. Bourbon, Orleans, Republic, are words, to them, of +no definite meaning. The only name that can rouse them from +their apathy, is "Napoleon." At that sound, the Gallic heart +thrills with enthusiasm and thirst for glory. Hence the +unparalleled success with which the present emperor has appealed +to universal suffrage.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-116">116</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-117" id="Footnote-117"></a> It is not generally appreciated how much we are indebted +to Oriental civilizations for our lighter and more graceful literature. +Our first works of fiction were translations or paraphrases +of Eastern tales introduced into Western Europe by the +returning crusaders. The songs of the troubadour, the many-tomed +romances of the Middle Ages—those ponderous sires of +modern novels—all emanated from that source. The works of +Dante, Tasso, Ariosto, Boccacio, and nearer home, of Chaucer +and Spenser, are incontestable proofs of this fact. Even Milton +himself drew from the inexhaustible stores of Eastern +legends and romances. Our fairy tales, and almost all of our +most graceful lyric poesy, that is not borrowed from Greece, is +of Persian origin. Almost every popular poet of England and +the continent has invoked the Oriental muse, none more successfully +than Southey and Moore. It would be useless to allude +to the immense popularity of acknowledged versions of Oriental +literature, such as the <cite>Thousand and One Nights</cite>, the Apologues, +Allegories, &c. What we do not owe to the East, we +have taken from the Greeks. Even to this day, Grecian mythology +is the never-failing resource of the lyric poet, and so familiar +has that graceful imagery become to us, that we introduce +it, often <i>mal-à-propos</i>, even in our colloquial language. +</p><p> +In metaphysics, also, we have confessedly done little more +than revive the labors of the Greeks.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-117">117</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-118" id="Footnote-118"></a> M. Flourens, <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Eloge de Blumenbach, Mémoires de l'Académie +des Sciences</cite>. Paris, 1847, p. xiii. This <i>savant</i> justly protests +against such a method.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-118">118</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-119" id="Footnote-119"></a> For the description of types in this and other portions of +this chapter, I am indebted to +</p><p> +M. <cite class="author">William Lawrence</cite>, <cite>Lect. on the Nat. Hist. of Man</cite>. +London, 1844. But especially to the learned +</p><p> +<cite class="author">James Cowles Prichard</cite>, <cite>Nat. Hist. of Man</cite>. London, 1848.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-119">119</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-120" id="Footnote-120"></a> Prichard, <cite>op. cit.</cite>, p. 129.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-120">120</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-121" id="Footnote-121"></a> It is impossible to conceive an idea of the scarce human +form of these creatures, without the aid of pictorial representations. +In Prichard's <cite>Natural History of Man</cite> will be found a +plate (No. 23, p. 355) from M. d'Urville's atlas, which may assist +the reader in gaining an idea of the utmost hideousness +that the human form is capable of. I cannot but believe that +the picture there given is considerably exaggerated, but with +all due allowance in this respect, enough ugliness will be left to +make us almost ashamed to recognize these beings as belonging +to our kind.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-121">121</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-122" id="Footnote-122"></a> <cite>Op. cit.</cite>, p. 111.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-122">122</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-123" id="Footnote-123"></a> It will be observed that Prichard and Camper, and further +on Blumenbach, here use the word <em>nation</em> as synonymous to <em>race</em>. +See my introduction, <a title="Go to Page 65." href="#page65">p. 65</a>.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-123">123</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-124" id="Footnote-124"></a> Prichard, <cite>op. cit.</cite>, p. 115.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-124">124</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-125" id="Footnote-125"></a> <cite>Op. cit.</cite>, p. 117.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-125">125</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-126" id="Footnote-126"></a> Carus, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Ueber ungleiche Befähigung</cite>, etc., p. 19.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-126">126</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-127" id="Footnote-127"></a> <cite>Op. cit.</cite>, p. 20.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-127">127</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-128" id="Footnote-128"></a> As Mr. Gobineau has taken the facts presented by Dr. Morton +at second hand, and, moreover, had not before him Dr. +Morton's later tables and more matured deductions, Dr. Nott +has given an abstract of the result arrived at by the learned +craniologist, as published by himself in 1849. This abstract, +and the valuable comments of Dr. Nott himself, will be found +in the Appendix, under <a title="Go to Appendix A." href="#A">A</a>.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-128">128</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-129" id="Footnote-129"></a> I fear that our author has here fallen into an error which +his own facts disprove, and which is still everywhere received +without examination, viz: that cultivation can change the form +or size of the head, either of individuals or races; an opinion, +in support of which, no facts whatever can be adduced. The +heads of the barbarous races of Europe were precisely the same +as those of civilized Europe in our day; this is proven by the +disinterred crania of ancient races, and by other facts. Nor do +we see around us among the uneducated, heads inferior in form +and size to those of the more privileged classes. Does any one +pretend that the nobility of England, which has been an educated +class for centuries, have larger heads, or more intelligence +than the ignoble? On the contrary, does not most of the talent +of England spring up from plebeian ranks? Wherever civilization +has been brought to a population of the white race, they +have accepted it at once—their heads required no development. +Where, on the contrary, it has been carried to Negroes, Mongols, +and Indians, they have rejected it. Egyptians and Hindoos +have small heads, but we know little of the early history +of their civilization. Egyptian monuments prove that the early +people and language of Egypt were strongly impregnated with +Semitic elements. Latham has shown that the Sanscrit language +was carried <em>from</em> Europe to India, and probably civilization +with it. +</p><p> +I have looked in vain for twenty years for evidence to prove +that cultivation could enlarge a <em>brain</em>, while it expands the +mind. The head of a boy at twelve is as large as it ever is.—N.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-129">129</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-130" id="Footnote-130"></a> Carus, <cite>op. cit.</cite>, p. 12.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-130">130</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-131" id="Footnote-131"></a> There are some very slight ones, which nevertheless are +very characteristic. Among this number I would class a certain +enlargement on each side of the lower lip, which is found +among the English and Germans. I find this indication of Germanic +origin in several paintings of the Flemish school, in the +<cite>Madonna</cite> of Rubens, in the museum of Dresden, in the <cite>Satyrs</cite> +and <cite>Nymphs</cite> of the same collection, in a <cite>Lute-player</cite> of Miéris, +etc. No cranioscopic method whatever could embrace such +details, which, however, are not without value in the great +mixture of races which Europe presents.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-131">131</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-132" id="Footnote-132"></a> Prichard, <cite>op. cit.</cite>, p. 329.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-132">132</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-133" id="Footnote-133"></a> Job Ludolf, whose facilities of observation must necessarily +have been very defective when compared with those we enjoy +at the present day, nevertheless combats in very forcible language, +and with arguments—so far as concerns the negro—invincible, +the opinion here adopted by Mr. Prichard. I cannot +refrain from quoting him in this place, not for any novelty contained +in his arguments, but to show their very antiquity: <span xml:lang="la" lang="la">"De +nigredine Æthiopum hic agere nostri non est instituti, plerique +ardoribus solis atquæ zonæ torridæ id tribuant. Verum etiam +intra solis orbitam populi dantur, si non plane albi, saltem non +prorsus nigri. Multi extra utrumque tropicum a media mundi +linea longius absunt quam Persæ aut Syri, veluti pramontorii +Bonæ Spei habitantes, et tamen iste sunt nigerrimi. Si Africæ +tantum et Chami posteris id inspectari velis, Malabares et Ceilonii +aliique remotiores Asiæ populi æque nigri excipiendi +erunt. Quod si causam ad cœli solique naturam referas, non +homines albi in illis regionibus renascentes non nigrescunt? Aut +qui ad occultas qualitates confugiunt, melius fecerint si sese +nescire fateantur."</span>—<cite class="author">Jobus Ludolfus</cite>, <cite xml:lang="la" lang="la">Commentarium ad Historiam +Æthiopicam</cite>, fol. Norimb. p. 56.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-133">133</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-134" id="Footnote-134"></a> Prichard, <cite>op. cit.</cite>, p. 124.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-134">134</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-135" id="Footnote-135"></a> Prichard, <cite>op. cit.</cite>, p. 433.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-135">135</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-136" id="Footnote-136"></a> Neither the Swiss, nor the Tyrolese, nor the Highlanders +of Scotland, nor the Sclaves of the Balkan, nor the tribes of +the Himaleh, nor any other mountaineers whatever, present +the monstrous appearance of the Quichuas.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-136">136</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-137" id="Footnote-137"></a> The distinguished microscopist, Dr. Peter A. Browne, of +Philadelphia, has published the most elaborate observations on +hair, of any author I have met with; and he asserts that the +pile of the negro is <em>wool</em>, and not hair. He has gone so far as +to distinguish the leading races of men by the direction, shape, +and structure of the hair. The reader is referred to his works +for much very curious, new, and valuable matter.—N. +</p><p> +To those of our readers who may not have the inclination or +opportunity of consulting Mr. Browne's work, the following +concise and excellent synopsis of his views, which I borrow +from Dr. Kneeland's <cite>Introduction to Hamilton Smith's Natural +History of Man</cite>, may not be unacceptable: "There are, on +microscopical examination, three prevailing forms of the transverse +section of the filament, viz: the cylindrical, the oval, and +the eccentrically elliptical. There are also three directions in +which it pierces the epidermis. The straight and lank, the +flowing or curled, and the crisped or frizzled, differ respectively +as to the angle which the filament makes with the skin on leaving +it. The cylindrical and oval pile has an oblique angle of +inclination. The eccentrically elliptical pierces the epidermis +at right angles, and lies perpendicularly in the dermis. The +hair of the white man is oval; that of the Choctaw, and some +other American Indians, is cylindrical; that of the negro is +eccentrically elliptical or flat. The hair of the white man has, +beside its cortex and intermediate fibres, a central canal, which +contains the coloring matter when present. The pile of the +negro has no central canal, and the coloring matter is diffused, +when present, either throughout the cortex or the intermediate +fibres. Hair, according to these observations, is more complex +in its structure than wool. In hair, the enveloping scales are +comparatively few, with smooth surfaces, rounded at their +points, and closely embracing the shaft. In wool, they are +numerous, rough, sharp-pointed, and project from the shaft. +<em>Hence, the hair of the white man will not felt, that of the negro +will.</em> In this respect, therefore, it comes near to true wool"—pp. +88, 89.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-137">137</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-138" id="Footnote-138"></a> A full answer to this objection will be found in our Appendix, +under <a title="Go to Appendix B." href="#B"><cite>B</cite></a>.—N.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-138">138</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-139" id="Footnote-139"></a> For the arguments which may be deduced from the language +of Holy Writ, in favor of plurality of origins, see <a title="Go to Appendix C." href="#C">Appendix <cite>C</cite></a>.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-139">139</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-140" id="Footnote-140"></a> Among others, <cite class="author">Frédéric Cuvier</cite>, <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Annales du Muséum</cite>, vol. +xi. p. 458.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-140">140</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-141" id="Footnote-141"></a> The reader will be struck by the remarkable illustration of +the truth of this remark, which the equine species affords. The +vast difference between the swift courser, who excites the enthusiasm +of admiring multitudes, and the common hack, need +not be pointed out, and it is as well known that either, if the +breed be preserved unmixed, will perpetuate their distinctive +qualities to a countless progeny.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-141">141</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-142" id="Footnote-142"></a> A free mulatto, who had received a very good education in +France, once seriously undertook to prove to me that the Saviour's +earthly form partook, at the same time, of the characteristics +of the white and the black races; in other words, was +that of a half-breed. The arguments by which he supported +this singular hypothesis were drawn from theology, as well as +Scriptural ethnology, and were remarkably plausible and ingenious. +I am convinced that if the real opinion of colored +Christians on this subject could be collected, a vast majority +would be found to agree with my informant.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-142">142</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-143" id="Footnote-143"></a> Our author here gives evidence of a want of critical study +of races—the resemblances he has traced do not exist. There +is no type in Africa south of the equator, or among the aborigines +of America, that bears any resemblance to any race in +Europe or Asia.—N.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-143">143</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-144" id="Footnote-144"></a> Müller, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Handbuch der Physiologie des Menschen</cite>, vol. ii. p. +639.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-144">144</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-145" id="Footnote-145"></a> Prichard, <cite>op. cit.</cite>, pp. 484, 485.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-145">145</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-146" id="Footnote-146"></a> An exception, however, must be made in the case of Shakspeare, +while painting on an Italian canvas. In <cite>Romeo and +Juliet</cite>, Capulet says:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"My child is yet a stranger in the world,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She hath not seen the change of fourteen years;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let two more summers wither in their pride,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride."<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<p>To which Paris answers:—</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Younger than she are happy mothers made."<br /></span> +</div> +</div> + +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-146">146</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-147" id="Footnote-147"></a> According to M. Krapff, a Protestant minister in Eastern +Africa, among the Wanikos both sexes marry at the age of twelve. +(<cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenländischen Gesellschaft</cite>, vol. iii. +p. 317.) In Paraguay, the Jesuits had established the custom, +which subsists to this day, of marrying their neophytes, the +girls at the age of ten, the boys at that of thirteen. It is not +rare to find, in that country, widowers and widows eleven and +twelve years old. (<cite class="author">A. d'Orbigny</cite>, <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">L'Homme Américain</cite>, vol. i. p. +40.) In Southern Brazil, females marry at the age of ten and +eleven. Menstruation there begins also at a very early age, and +ceases equally early. (<cite class="author">Martius</cite> and <cite class="author">Spix</cite>, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Reise in Brasilien</cite>, +vol. i. p. 382.) I might increase the number of similar quotations +indefinitely.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-147">147</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-148" id="Footnote-148"></a> Prichard, <cite>op. cit.</cite>, p. 486.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-148">148</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-149" id="Footnote-149"></a> Botta, <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Monumens de Ninive</cite>. Paris, 1850.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-149">149</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-150" id="Footnote-150"></a> <cite>Edinburgh Review</cite>, "Ethnology, or the Science of Races," +Oct. 1844, p. 144, <i>et passim</i>. "There is probably no evidence +of original diversity of race which is so generally and unhesitatingly +relied upon as that derived from the <em>color of the skin</em> +and the <em>character of the hair</em>; ... but it will not, we think, +stand the test of serious examination.... Among the Kabyles +of Algiers and Tunis, the Tuarites of Sahara, the Shelahs or +mountaineers of Southern Morocco, and other people of the +same race, there are very considerable differences of complexion." +(p. 448.)</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-150">150</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-151" id="Footnote-151"></a> <cite>Ibid.</cite>, <cite>loc. cit.</cite>, p. 453. "The Cinghalese are described by +Dr. Davy as varying in color from light brown to black, the +prevalent hue of their hair and eyes is black, but hazel eyes +and brown hair are not very uncommon; gray eyes and red +hair are occasionally seen, though rarely, and sometimes the +light-blue or red eye and flaxen hair of the albino."</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-151">151</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-152" id="Footnote-152"></a> <cite>Ibid.</cite>, <cite>loc. cit.</cite> "The Samoiedes, Tungusians, and others +living on the borders of the Icy Sea, have a dirty-brown or +swarthy complexion."</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-152">152</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-153" id="Footnote-153"></a> Edinburgh Review, p. 439.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-153">153</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-154" id="Footnote-154"></a> Hammer, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches</cite>, vol. i. p. 2. +(<cite>History of the Ottoman Empire.</cite>)</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-154">154</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-155" id="Footnote-155"></a> Ritter, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Erdkunde Asien</cite>, vol. i. p. 433, et passim, p. 1115, +etc. Lassen, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes</cite>, vol. ii. +p. 65. Benfey, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Encyclopædie</cite>, by Ersch and Gruber, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Indien</cite>, p. +12. Alexander Von Humboldt, speaking of this fact, styles it +one of the most important discoveries of our times. (<cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Asie Centrale</cite>, +vol. ii. p. 649.) With regard to its bearings upon historical +science, nothing can be more true.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-155">155</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-156" id="Footnote-156"></a> Nouschirwan, whose reign falls in the first half of the sixth +century of our era, married Scharouz, the daughter of the Khakan +of the Turks. She was the most beautiful woman of her +time. (Haneberg, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Zeitschr. f. d. K. des Morgenl.</cite>, vol. i. p. 187.) +This is by no means an isolated instance; Schahnameh furnishes +a number of similar ones.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-156">156</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-157" id="Footnote-157"></a> The Scythes, though having adopted a language of the +Arian classes, were, nevertheless, a Mongolian nation; there +would, therefore, be nothing very surprising if the Orghuses +had been an Arian nation, though speaking a Finnic dialect. +This hypothesis is singularly corroborated by a passage in the +relations of the traveller Rubruquis, who was sent by St. Louis +as ambassador to the sovereign of the Mongols. "I was struck," +says the worthy monk, "with the prince's resemblance to the +deceased <em>M. John de Beaumont</em>, whose complexion was equally +fresh and colored." Alexander Von Humboldt, justly interested +by this remark, adds: "This physiognomical observation acquires +importance, when we recollect that the monarch here +spoken of belonged to the family of Tchinguiz, who were really +of Turkish, not of Mogul origin." And pursuing this trace, the +great <i>savant</i> finds another corroborating fact: "The absence of +Mongolian features," says he, "strikes us also in the portraits +which we possess of the Baburides, the conquerors of India." +(<cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Asie Centrale</cite>, vol. i. p. 248, and note.)</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-157">157</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-158" id="Footnote-158"></a> It will be seen that Mr. Gobineau differs, in the date he +gives of the institution of the Janissaries, from all other European +writers, who unanimously ascribe the establishment of this +corps to Mourad I., the third prince of the line of Othman. +This error, into which Gibbon himself has fallen, originated +with Cantemir: but the concurrent testimony of every Turkish +historian fixes the epoch of their formation and consecration by +the Dervish Hadji-Becktash, to the reign of Orkhan, the father +of Mourad, who, in 1328, enrolled a body of Christian youths +as soldiers under this name (which signifies, "new regulars"), +by the advice of his cousin Tchenderli, to whose councils the +wise and simple regulations of the infant empire are chiefly +attributed. Their number was at first only a thousand; but it +was greatly augmented when Mourad, in 1361, appropriated to +this service, by an edict, the <em>imperial fifth</em> of the European captives +taken in the war—a measure which has been generally +confounded with the first enrolment of the corps. At the accession +of Soliman the Magnificent, their effective strength had +reached 40,000; and under Mohammed IV., in the middle of +the seventeenth century, that number was more than doubled. +But though the original composition of the Janissaries is related +by every writer who has treated of them, it has not been +so generally noticed that for more than two centuries and a half +not a single native Turk was admitted into their ranks, which +were recruited, like those of the Mamelukes, solely by the continual +supply of Christian slaves, at first captives of tender age +taken in war, and afterwards, when this source proved inadequate +to the increased demand, by an annual levy among the +children of the lower orders of Christians throughout the empire—a +dreadful tax, frequently alluded to by Busbequius, and +which did not finally cease till the reign of Mohammed IV. +</p><p> +At a later period, when the Krim Tartars became vassals of +the Porte, the yearly inroads of the fierce cavalry of that nation +into the southern provinces of Russia, were principally instrumental +in replenishing this nursery of soldiers; and Fletcher, +who was ambassador from Queen Elizabeth to Ivan the Terrible, +describes, in his quaint language, the method pursued in these +depredations: "The chief bootie the Tartars seeke for in all +their warres, is to get store of captives, specially young boyes +and girles, whom they sell to the Turkes, or other, their neighbours. +To this purpose, they take with them great baskets, +made like bakers' panniers, <em>to carrie them tenderly</em>; and if any +of them happens to tyre, or bee sicke on the way, they dash +him against the ground, or some tree, and so leave him dead." +(<cite>Purchas's Pilgrims</cite>, vol. iii. p. 441.) +</p><p> +The boys, thus procured from various quarters, were assembled +at Constantinople, where, after a general inspection, those +whose personal advantages or indications of superior talent distinguished +them from the crowd, were set aside as pages of the +seraglio or Mamelukes in the households of the pashas and other +officers, whence in due time they were promoted to military +commands or other appointments: but the remaining multitude +were given severally in charge to peasants or artisans of Turkish +race, principally in Anatolia, by whom they were trained up, +till they approached the age of manhood, in the tenets of the +Moslem faith, and inured to all the privations and toils of a +hardy and laborious life. After this severe probation, they +were again transferred to the capital, and enrolled in the different +<em>odas</em> or regiments; and here their military education commenced.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-158">158</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-159" id="Footnote-159"></a> <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Erdkunde, Asien</cite>, vol. i. p. 448.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-159">159</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-160" id="Footnote-160"></a> <cite>Ethnology</cite>, etc., p. 439: "The Hungarian nobility ... +is proved by historical and philological evidence to have been a +branch of the great Northern Asiatic stock, closely allied in +blood to the stupid and feeble Ostiaks, and the untamable Laplander."</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-160">160</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-161" id="Footnote-161"></a> St. Stephen reigned about the year 1000, nearly one century +and a half after the first invasion of the Magyars, under +their leaders, Arpad and Zulta. He introduced Christianity +among his people, on which account he was canonized, and is +now the tutelary saint of his nation. It may not be known to +the generality of our readers, that the Magyars, though they +have now resided nearly one thousand years in Hungary, have, +with few exceptions, never applied themselves to the tillage of +the soil. Agriculture, to this day, remains almost exclusively +in the hands of the original (the Slowack or Sclavonian) population. +The Magyar's wealth consists in his herds, or, if he owns +land, it is the Slowacks that cultivate it for him. It is a singular +phenomenon that these two races, though professing the +same religion, have remained almost entirely unmixed, and each +still preserves its own language.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-161">161</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-162" id="Footnote-162"></a> <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Essai Historique sur l'Origine des Hongrois.</cite> Paris, 1844.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-162">162</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-163" id="Footnote-163"></a> It appears that we shall be compelled henceforward to considerably +modify our usually received opinions with regard to +the nations of Central Asia. It cannot now be any longer +doubted that many of these populations contain a very considerable +admixture of white blood, a fact of which our predecessors +in the study of history had not the slightest apprehension. +Alexander Von Humboldt makes a very important remark +upon this subject, in speaking of the Kirghis-Kazakes, mentioned +by Menander of Byzant, and Constantine Porphyrogenetus; +and he shows conclusively that the Kirghis (<ins class="greek" title="Transliteration: cherchis" xml:lang="el" lang="el">χερχις</ins>) concubine +spoken of by the former writer as a present of the Turkish +chief Dithubùl to Zemarch, the ambassador of Justinian II., in +A. D. 569, was a girl of mixed blood—partly white. She is the +precise counterpart of those beautiful Turkish girls, whose +charms are so much extolled by Persian writers, and who did +not belong, any more than she, to the Mongolian race. (Vide +<cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Asie Centrale</cite>, vol. i. p. 237, <i>et passim</i>, and vol. ii. pp. 130, 131.)</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-163">163</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-164" id="Footnote-164"></a> Schaffarick, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Slawische Alterthümer</cite>, vol. i. p. 279, <i>et passim</i>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-164">164</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-165" id="Footnote-165"></a> Aug. Thierry, <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Histoire de la Conquite de l'Angleterre</cite>. Paris, +1846, vol. i. p. 155.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-165">165</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-166" id="Footnote-166"></a> In my introductory note to Chapters VIII. and IX. (see +<a title="Go to page 244." href="#page244">p. 244</a>), I have mentioned a remarkable instance of the permanency +of characteristics, even in branches of the same race. +An equally, if not more striking illustration of this fact is given +by Alex. Von Humboldt. +</p><p> +It is well known that Spain contains a population composed of +very dissimilar ethnical elements, and that the inhabitants of its +various provinces differ essentially, not only in physical appearance, +but still more in mental characteristics. As in all newly-settled +countries, immigrants from the same locality are apt to +select the same spot, the extensive Spanish possessions on this +continent were colonized, each respectively, by some particular +province in the mother country. Thus the Biscayans settled +Mexico; the Andalusians and natives of the Canary Islands, +Venezuela; the Catalonians, Buenos Ayres; the Castillians, +Peru, etc. Although centuries have elapsed since these original +settlements, and although the character of the Spanish Americans +must have been variously modified by the physical nature +of their new homes, whether situated in the vicinity of coasts, +or of mining districts, or in isolated table-lands, or in fertile +valleys; notwithstanding all this, the great traveller and experienced +observer still clearly recognizes in the character of the +various populations of South America, the distinctive peculiarities +of the original settlers. Says he: "The Andalusians and +Canarians of Venezuela, the Mountaineers and the Biscayans +of Mexico, the Catalonians of Buenos Ayres, evince considerable +differences in their aptitude for agriculture, for the mechanical +arts, for commerce, and for all objects connected with +intellectual development. <em>Each of these races has preserved, in +the new, as in the old world, the shades that constitute its national +physiognomy</em>; its asperity or mildness of character; its freedom +from sordid feelings, or its excessive love of gain; its social +hospitality, or its taste of solitude.... In the inhabitants of +Caracas, Santa Fé, Quito, and Buenos Ayres, we still recognize +the features that belong to the race of the first settlers."—<cite>Personal +Narrative</cite>, Eng. Trans., vol. i. p. 395.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-166">166</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-167" id="Footnote-167"></a> I have already alluded to the classification adopted by Mr. +Latham, the great ethnographer, which, though different in the +designations, is precisely similar to that of Mr. Gobineau. +Hamilton Smith also comes to the conclusion that, "as there are +only three varieties who attain the typical standard, we have in +them the foundation of that number being exclusively aboriginal." +He therefore divides the races of men into three +classes, which he calls "typical forms," and which nearly correspond +to Mr. Gobineau's and Mr. Latham's "primary varieties." +But, notwithstanding this weight of authorities against +me, I cannot entirely agree as to the correctness of this classification. +Fewer objections seem to me to lie against that proposed +by Van Amringe, which I recommend to the consideration +of the reader, and, though perhaps out of place in a mere +foot-note, subjoin at full length. It must be remembered that +the author of this system, though he uses the word species to +distinguish the various groups, is one of the advocates for +<em>unity of origin</em>. (The words <em>Japhetic</em> and <em>Shemitic</em> are also employed +in a sense somewhat different from that which common +usage has assigned them.) +</p> + +<h3>THE SHEMITIC SPECIES.</h3> + +<p class="blockquot2"><em>Psychical or Spiritual Character</em>, viz:—<br /> +All the Physical Attributes developed harmoniously.—Warlike, +but not cruel, or destructive.</p> + +<p><em>Temperament.—</em>Strenuous.</p> + +<p class="blockquot2"><em>Physical Character</em>, viz:—<br /> + +A high degree of sensibility; fair complexion; copious, soft, +flowing hair, often curled, or waving; ample beard; small, +oval, perpendicular face, with features very distinct; expanded +forehead; large and elevated cranium; narrow elevated +nose, distinct from the other features; small mouth, +and thin lips; chin, round, full, and somewhat prominent, +generally equal with the lips.</p> + +<h4>VARIETIES.</h4> + +<p class="blockquot3">The Israelites, Greeks, Romans, Teutones, Sclavons, Celts, +&c., and many sub-varieties.</p> + +<h3>THE JAPHETIC SPECIES.</h3> + +<p class="blockquot2"><em>Psychical or Spiritual Character</em>, viz:<br /> + +Attributes unequally developed. Moderately mental—originative, +inventive, but not speculative. Not warlike, but destructive.</p> + +<p><em>Temperament.</em>—Passive.</p> + +<p class="blockquot2"><em>Physical Character</em>, viz:—<br /> + +Medium sensibility; olive yellow complexion; hair thin, +coarse, and black; little or no beard; broad, flattened, and +triangular face; high, pyramidal, and square-shaped skull; +forehead small and low; wide and small nose, particularly broad +at the root; linear and highly arched eyebrows; very oblique +eyes, broad, irregular, and half-closed, the upper eyelid extending +a little beyond the lower; thick lips.</p> + +<h4>VARIETIES.</h4> + +<p class="blockquot3">The Chinese, Mongolians, Japanese, Chin Indians, &c., and +probably the Esquimaux, Toltecs, Aztecs, Peruvians.</p> + +<h3>THE ISHMAELITIC SPECIES.</h3> + +<p class="blockquot2"><em>Psychical or Spiritual Character</em>, viz:—<br /> + +Attributes generally equally developed. Moderately mental; +not originative, or inventive, but speculative; roving, predatory, +revengeful, and sensual. Warlike and highly destructive.</p> + +<p><em>Temperament.</em>—Callous.</p> + +<p class="blockquot2"><em>Physical Character.</em>—Sub-medium sensibility; dark skin, more +or less red, or of a copper-color tinge; hair black, straight, +and strong; face broad, immediately under the eyes; high +cheek-bones; nose prominent and distinct, particularly in +profile; mouth and chin, European.</p> + +<h4>VARIETIES.</h4> + +<p class="blockquot3">Most of the Tartar and Arabian tribes, and the whole of the +American Indians, unless those mentioned in the second +species should be excepted.</p> + +<h3>THE CANAANITIC SPECIES.</h3> + +<p class="blockquot2"><em>Psychical or Spiritual Character</em>, viz:—<br /> + +Attributes equally undeveloped. Inferiorly mental; not +originative, inventive, or speculative; roving, revengeful, +predatory, and highly sensual; warlike and destructive.</p> + +<p><em>Temperament.</em>—Sluggish.</p> + +<p class="blockquot2"><em>Physical Character.</em>—Sluggish sensibility, approaching to torpor; +dark or black skin; hair black, generally woolly; skull compressed +on the sides, narrow at the forehead, which slants +backwards; cheek-bones very prominent; jaws projecting; +teeth oblique, and chin retreating, forming a muzzle-shaped +profile; nose broad, flat, and confused with the face; eyes +prominent; lips thick.</p> + +<h4>VARIETIES.</h4> + +<p class="blockquot3">The Negroes of Central Africa, Hottentots, Cafirs, Australasian +Negroes, &c.; and probably the Malays, &c.</p> + +<p class="right10"><cite>Nat. Hist. of Man</cite>, p. 73 <i>et passim</i>.<br /></p> + + +<p>If the reader will carefully examine the psychical characteristics +of these groups, as given in the above extract, he will find +them to accord better with the whole of Mr. Gobineau's theories, +than Mr. Gobineau's own classification.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-167">167</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-168" id="Footnote-168"></a> It is probably a typographical error, that makes Mr. Flourens +(<cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Eloge de Blumenbach</cite>, p. 11) say that the Polynesian race +was "a mixture of two others, the <em>Caucasian</em> and the Mongolian." +The Black and the Mongolian is undoubtedly what the +learned Academician wished to say.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-168">168</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-169" id="Footnote-169"></a> This may be so in our eyes. It is natural for us to think +those the most pleasing in appearance, that closest resemble our +own type. But were an African to institute a comparative scale +of beauty, would he not place his own race highest, and declare +that "all races rose in the scale of beauty in proportion to the +perfectness of the development" of African features? I think +it extremely probable—nay, positively certain. +</p><p> +Mr. Hamilton Smith takes the same side as the author. "It +is a mistaken notion," says he, "to believe that the standard +contour of beauty and form differs materially in any country. +Fashion may have the influence of setting up certain deformities +for perfections, both at Pekin and at Paris, but they are invariably +apologies which national pride offers for its own defects. +The youthful beauty of Canton would be handsome (?) in London," +etc. +</p><p> +Mr. Van Amringe, on the contrary, after a careful examination +of the facts brought to light by travellers and other investigators, +comes to the conclusion that "the standard of beauty in +the different species (see <a title="Go to Page 371." href="#page371">p. 371</a>, <cite><a title="Go to Footnote 167 on Page 371." href="#Footnote-167">note</a></cite>) of man is wholly different, +physically, morally, and intellectually. Consequently, that taste +for personal beauty in each species is incompatible with the perception +of sexual beauty out of the species." (<cite>Op. cit.</cite>, p. 656.) +"A difference of taste for sexual beauty in the several races of +men is the great natural law which has been instrumental in +separating them, and keeping them distinct, more effectually +than mountains, deserts, or oceans. This separation has been +perfect for the whole historic period, and continues to be now +as wide as it is or has been in any distinct species of animals. +Why has this been so? Did prejudice operate four thousand +years ago exactly as it does now? If it did not, how came the +races to separate into distinct masses at the very earliest known +period, and, either voluntarily or by force, take up distinct geographical +abodes?" (<cite>Ibid.</cite>, pp. 41 and 42.)—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-169">169</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-170" id="Footnote-170"></a> This inequality is not the less great, nor the less permanent, +if we suppose each type to have its own standard. Nay, if the +latter be true, it is a sign of a more <em>radical</em> difference among +races.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-170">170</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-171" id="Footnote-171"></a> Upon the aborigines of America, consult Martius and Spix, +<cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Reise in Brasilien</cite>, vol. i. p. 259; upon the negroes, Pruner, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Der +Neger, eine aphoristische Skizze aus der medicinischen Topographie +von Cairo</cite>. In regard to the superiority in muscular vigor over +all other races, see Carus, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Ueber ungl. Bef.</cite>, p. 84.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-171">171</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-172" id="Footnote-172"></a> Because we now find the Chinese apparently stationary, many +persons unreflectingly conclude that they were always so; which +would presuppose that the Chinese were placed upon earth with +the faculty of making porcelain, gunpowder, paper, etc., somewhat +after the manner in which bees make their cells. But in +the annals of the Chinese empire, the date of many of their principal +inventions is distinctly recorded. There was a long period +of vigorous intellectual activity among that singular people, a +period during which good books were written, and ingenious inventions +made in rapid succession. This period has ceased, but +the Chinese are not therefore stationary. They are <em>retrograding</em>. +No Chinese workman can now make porcelain equal to that of +former ages, which consequently bears an exorbitant price as an +object of <i>virtû</i>. The secret of many of their arts has been lost, +the practice of all is gradually deteriorating. No book of any +note has been written these hundreds of years in that great +empire. Hence their passionate attachment to everything old, +which is not, as is so generally presumed, the <em>cause</em> of their +stagnation: it is the <em>sign</em> of intellectual decadence, and the +brake which prevents a still more rapid descent. Whenever a +nation begins to extravagantly prize the productions of preceding +ages, it is a confession that it can no longer equal them: it has +begun to retrograde. But the very retrogression is a proof that +there once was an opposite movement.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-172">172</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-173" id="Footnote-173"></a> The fearful scenes of blood which the beginning of our century +witnessed, had crowded the hospitals with wounded and +dying. Professional nurses could afford little help after battles +like those of Jena, of Eylau, of Feldbach, or of Leipsic. It was +then that, in Northern Germany, thousands of ladies of the first +families sacrificed their health, and, in too many instances, their +lives, to the Christian duty of charity. Many of the noble +houses still mourn the loss of some fair matron or maiden, who +fell a victim to her self-devotion. In the late war between Denmark +and Prussia, the Danish ladies displayed an equal zeal. +Scutari also will be remembered in after ages as a monument of +what the women of our race can do. But why revert to the +past, and to distant scenes? Have we not daily proofs around +us that the heroic virtues of by-gone ages still live in ours?</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-173">173</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-174" id="Footnote-174"></a> The word <em>criticism</em> has here been used by the translator in +a sense somewhat unusual in the English language, where it is +generally made to signify "the art of judging of literary or +artistic productions." In a more comprehensive sense, it means +<em>the art of discriminating between truth and error</em>, or rather, perhaps, +between <em>the probable and the improbable</em>. In this sense, +the word is often used by continental metaphysicians, and also, +though less frequently, by English writers. As the definition +is perfectly conformable to etymology, I have concluded to let +the above passage stand as it is.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-174">174</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-175" id="Footnote-175"></a> It will be remembered that Mr. Gobineau speaks of Europe.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-175">175</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-176" id="Footnote-176"></a> The term "Radical" is used on the European continent to +designate that party who desire thorough, uncompromising reform: +the plucking out of evils by the <em>root</em>.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-176">176</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-177" id="Footnote-177"></a> The principles of government applied to practice at the +formation of our Constitution, Mr. Gobineau considers as identical +with those laid down at the beginning of every society +founded by the Germanic race. In his succeeding volumes he +mentions several analogues.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-177">177</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-178" id="Footnote-178"></a> M. J. Mohl, <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Rapport Annuel à la Société Asiatique</cite>, 1851, p. +92: "The Indian book trade of indigenous productions is extremely +lively, and consists of a number of works which are +never heard of in Europe, nor ever enter a European's library +even in India. Mr. Springer asserts in a letter, that in the single +town of Luknau there are thirteen lithographical establishments +exclusively occupied with multiplying books for the schools, and +he gives a list of considerable length of books, none of which +have probably ever reached Europe. The same is the case in +Delhi, Agra, Cawnpour, Allahabad, and other cities."</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-178">178</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-179" id="Footnote-179"></a> The Siamese are probably the most debased in morals of +any people on earth. They belong to the remotest outskirts of +the Indo-Chinese civilization; yet among them every one knows +how to read and write. (Ritter, <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Erdkunde, Asien</cite>, vol. iii. p. +1152.)</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-179">179</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-180" id="Footnote-180"></a> No individual can encompass the whole circle of human +knowledge: no civilization comprise at once all the improvements +possible to humanity.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-180">180</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-181" id="Footnote-181"></a> The word <em>Arab</em> is here used instead of the more common, +but less correct, term <em>Saracen</em>, which was the general appellation +bestowed on the first propagators of the Islam by the +Greeks and Latins. The Arab civilization reached its culminating +point about the reign of Harun al Rashid. At that time, it +comprised nearly all that remained of the arts and sciences of +former ages. The splendor and magnificence for which it was +distinguished, is even yet the theme of romancers and poets; and +may be discerned to this day in the voluptuous and gorgeous +modes of life among the higher classes in those countries where +it still survives, as well as in the remains of Arab architecture +in Spain, the best preserved and most beautiful of which is +the well-known Alhambra. Though the Arab civilization had a +decidedly sensual tendency and character, it was not without +great benefits to mankind. From it our forefathers learned +some valuable secrets of agriculture, and the first lessons in +horticulture. The peach, the pear, the apricot, the finer varieties +of apples and plums, and nearly all of our most valued +fruits were brought into Western and Central Europe by the +returning crusaders from the land of the Saracens. Many valuable +processes of manufacture, and especially of the art of +working metals, are derived from the same source. In the +science of medicine, the Arabs laid the foundation of that noble +structure we now admire. Though they were prevented by religious +scruples from dissecting the human body, and, therefore, +remained in ignorance of the most important facts of anatomy, +they brought to light innumerable secrets of the healing powers +in the vegetable kingdom; they first practised the art of distillation +and of chemical analysis. They were the beginners of +the science of Chemistry, to which they gave its name, and in +which many of the commonest technical terms (such as alkali, +alembic, alcohol, and many others), still attest their labors. In +mathematical science they were no less industrious. To them +we owe that simple and useful method which so greatly facilitates +the more complex processes of calculation, without which, +indeed, some of them would be impossible, and which still retains +its Arabic name—Algebra. But what is more, to them +we owe our system of notation, so vastly superior to that of the +Greeks and Romans, so admirable in its efficacy and simplicity, +that it has made arithmetic accessible to the humblest understanding; +at the present time, the whole Christian world uses +Arabic numerals.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-181">181</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-182" id="Footnote-182"></a> It is supposed by many that Turkey will ultimately be won +to our civilization, and, as a proof of this, great stress is laid +upon the efforts of the present Sultan, as well as his predecessor, +to "Europeanize" the Turks. Whoever has carefully and +unbiassedly studied the present condition of that nation, knows +how unsuccessful these efforts, backed, though they were, by +absolute authority, and by the immense influence of the whole +of Western Europe, have hitherto been and always will be. It +is a notorious fact, that the Turks fight less well in their semi-European +dress and with their European tactics, of which so +much was anticipated, than they did with their own. The +Moslem now regards the Christian with the same feelings that +he did in the zenith of his power, and these feelings are not the +less bitter, because they can no longer be so ostentatiously displayed.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-182">182</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-183" id="Footnote-183"></a> The Arabs believed themselves the descendants of Ishmael, +the son of Hagar. This belief, even before Mohammed's time, +had been curiously blended with the idolatrous doctrines of some +of their tribes.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-183">183</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-184" id="Footnote-184"></a> <em>Philip</em>, an Arabian adventurer who was prefect of the prætorian +guards under the third Gordian, and who, through his +boldness and ability, succeeded that sovereign on the throne in +A. D. 244.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-184">184</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-185" id="Footnote-185"></a> <em>Odenathus</em>, senator of Palmyra, after Sapor, the King of +Persia, had taken prisoner the Emperor of Rome, and was devastating +the empire, met the ruthless conqueror with a body +of Palmyrians, and several times routed his much more numerous +armies. Being the only one who could protect the Eastern +possessions of the Roman empire against the aggressions of the +Persians, he was appointed <i>Cæsar</i>, or coadjutor to the emperor +by Gallienus, the son of Valerian, the captive sovereign.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-185">185</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-186" id="Footnote-186"></a> The history of <em>Zenobia</em>, the Queen of the East, as she +styled herself, and one of the most interesting characters in +history, is well known. As in the preceding notes, I shall, +therefore, merely draw attention to familiar facts, with a view +to refresh the reader's memory, not to instruct him. +</p><p> +The famous Arabian queen was the widow of Odenathus, of +Palmyra, who bequeathed to her his dignity as <i>Cæsar</i>, or protector +of the Eastern dominions of Rome. It soon, however, +became apparent that she disdained to owe allegiance to the +Roman emperors, and aimed at establishing a new great empire +for herself and her descendants. Though the most accomplished, +as well as the most beautiful woman of her time, she +led her armies in person, and was so eminently successful in +her military enterprises that she soon extended her dominion +from the Euphrates to the Nile. Palmyra thus became the centre +and capital of a vast empire, which, as Mr. Gobineau observes, +rivalled and even threatened Rome itself. She was, +however, defeated by Aurelian, and, in A. D. 273, graced the +triumph of her conqueror on his return to Rome. +</p><p> +The former splendor of the now deserted Palmyra is attested +by the magnificent ruins which still form an inexhaustible theme +for the admiration of the traveller and antiquarian.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-186">186</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-187" id="Footnote-187"></a> Though the mass of the nation were ignorant of letters, the +Arabs had already before Mohammed's times some famous writers. +They had even made voyages of discovery, in which they +went as far as China. The earliest, and, as modern researches +have proved, the most truthful, account of the manners and +customs of that country is by Arab writers.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-187">187</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-188" id="Footnote-188"></a> At the time of the appearance of the false prophet, Arabia +contained within its bosom every then known religious sect. This +was owing not only to the central position of that country, but +also to the liberty which was then as now a prerogative of the +Arab. Among them every one was free to select or compose +for himself his own private religion. While the adjacent countries +were shaken by the storms of conquest and tyranny, the +persecuted sects fled to the happy land where they might profess +what they thought, and practice what they professed. +</p><p> +A religious persecution had driven from Persia many who professed +the religion of the ancient Magi. The Jews also were +early settlers in Arabia. Seven centuries before the death of +Mohammed they had firmly established themselves there. The +destruction of Jerusalem brought still greater numbers of these +industrious exiles, who at once erected synagogues, and to protect +the wealth they rapidly acquired, built and garrisoned +strongly fortified towns in various portions of the wilderness. +The Bible had at an early day been translated into the Arabic +tongue. Christian missionaries were not wanting, and their +active zeal was eminently successful. Several of the Arab tribes +had become converts. There were Christian churches in Yemen; +the states of Hira and Gassan were under the jurisdiction of +Jacobite and Nestorian bishops. The various heretical sects +found shelter and safety among the hospitable Arabs. But this +very fact proved detrimental to the progress of the Christian +religion, and opened the path for the creed of Mohammed. So +many and various were the Christian sects that crowded together +in that country, and so widely departed from the true spirit of +Christianity were some of them, that bitter hostilities sprung up +among them, and their religion fell into contempt. The Eastern +Christians of the seventh century had insensibly relapsed into a +semblance of paganism, one of the sects (the Collyridian heretics) +had even gone so far as to invest the virgin Mary with the name +and honors of a goddess. This is what the author alludes to in +saying that Christianity was losing favor in Arabia at the time +of the appearance of Mohammed.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-188">188</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-189" id="Footnote-189"></a> The student of ecclesiastical history knows what a number +of sects had sprung up about that time to distress and harass the +Church. It is not so generally appreciated, however, that for +the first hundred years, the progress of Islamism was almost +exclusively at the expense of Christianity. The whole of the +present Ottoman empire, and almost the whole northern coast +of Africa were previously Christian countries. Whether the loss +is greatly to be regretted, I know not, for the Syrians and Egyptians, +from being very indifferent Christians, became good Mohammedans. +These populations were to the Christian Church +like a cankered limb, the lopping off of which may have been +ordained by an all-wise Providence for the salvation of what was +yet sound in the body.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-189">189</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-190" id="Footnote-190"></a> W. Von Humboldt. <cite xml:lang="de" lang="de">Ueber die Karo-Sprache, Einleitung</cite>, p. +243. <span xml:lang="de" lang="de">"Durch die Richtung auf diese Bildung und durch innere +Stammes-verwandschaft wurden sie wirklich für griechischen +Geist und griechische Sprache empfänglich, da die Araber vorzugsweise +nur an den wissenschaftlichen Resultaten griechischer +Forschung hiengen."</span></p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-190">190</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-191" id="Footnote-191"></a> I do not hesitate to consider as an unmistakable mark of +intellectual inferiority, the exaggerated development of instincts +that characterizes certain savages. The perfection which some +of their senses acquire, cannot but be at the expense of the +reasoning faculties. See, upon this subject, the opinions of +Mr. Lesson des Papous, in a memoir inserted in the tenth volume +of the <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Annales des Sciences Naturelles</cite>.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-191">191</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-192" id="Footnote-192"></a> "The negro's sense of smell and of taste is as powerful as +it is unselecting. He eats everything, and I have good reasons +for asserting, that odors the most disagreeable to us, are positively +pleasant to him." (Pruner, <cite>Op. cit.</cite>, vol. i. p. 133.) +</p><p> +Mr. Pruner's assertions would, I think, be corroborated by +every one who has lived much among the negroes. It is a +notorious fact that the blacks on our southern plantations eat +every animal they can lay hold of. I have seen them discuss a +piece of fox, or the still more strongly flavored pole-cat, with +evident relish. Nay, on one occasion, I have known a party of +negroes feast on an alligator for a whole week, during which +time they bartered their allowance of meat for trinkets. Upon +my expressing surprise at so strange a repast, I was assured +that it was by no means uncommon; that it was a favorite viand of +the negroes in their native country, and that even here they often +killed them with the prospect of a savory roast or stew. I am +aware that some persons north of the Mason's & Dixon's line +might be disposed to explain this by asserting that <em>hunger</em> drove +them to such extremities; but I can testify, from my own observation, +that this is not the case. In the instances I have +mentioned, and in many others which are too repulsive to be +committed to paper, the banqueters were well fed, and evidently +made such a feast from choice. There are, in the Southern +States, many of the poor white population who are neither so +well clothed nor so well fed as these negroes were, and yet I +never heard of their resorting to such dishes. +</p><p> +In regard to the negro's fondness for odors, I am less qualified +to speak from my own observations, but nearly every description +of the manners of his native climes that I have read, +mentioned the fact of their besmearing themselves with the +strong musky fluid secreted by many animals—the alligator, +for instance. And I remember having heard woodsmen in the +South say, that while the white man shuns the polecat more +than he does the rattlesnake, and will make a considerable circuit +to get out of its way, the negro is but little afraid of this +formidable animal and its nauseous weapon.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-192">192</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-193" id="Footnote-193"></a> This is illustrated by many of their practices in their natural +state. For instance, the well-known custom of putting to death, +at the demise of some prince or great man, a number—corresponding +with the rank of the deceased—of his slaves, in order +that they may wait upon him in the other world. Hundreds of +poor creatures are often thus massacred at the funeral celebrations +in honor of some king or ruler. Yet it would be unjust +to call the negro ferocious or cruel. It merely proves the slight +estimation in which he holds human life.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-193">193</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-194" id="Footnote-194"></a> There is a callousness in the negro, which strikingly distinguishes +him from the whites, though it is possessed in perhaps +an equal degree by other races. I borrow from Mr. Van Amringe's +<cite>Nat. Hist. of Man</cite>, a few remarks on this subject by Dr. +Mosely, in his <cite>Treatise on Tropical Diseases</cite>: "Negroes," says +the Doctor, "whatever the cause may be, are devoid of sensibility +(physical) to a surprising degree. They are not subject to +nervous diseases. They sleep sound in every disease, nor does +any mental disturbance ever keep them awake. They bear chirurgical +operations much better than white people, and what +would be the cause of insupportable pain to a white man, a negro +would almost disregard. I have amputated the legs of many +negroes, who have held the upper part of the limb themselves." +Every southern planter, and every physician of experience in +the South, could bear witness to these facts.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-194">194</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-195" id="Footnote-195"></a> Thinking that it might not be uninteresting to some of our +readers to see the views concerning the negro of another European +writer besides Mr. Gobineau, I subjoin the following +extract from Mr. Tschudi's <cite>Travels in South America</cite>. Mr. +Tschudi is a Swiss naturalist of undoubted reputation, an experienced +philosophic observer, and a candid seeker for truth. +His opinion is somewhat harsher than would be that of a man +who had resided among that class all his life, but it nevertheless +contains some valuable truths, and is, at least, curious on +account of the source whence it comes. +</p><p> +"In Lima, and, indeed, throughout the whole of Peru, the +free negroes are a plague to society. Too indolent to support +themselves by laborious industry, they readily fall into any dishonest +means of getting money. Almost all the robbers that +infest the roads on the coast of Peru are free negroes. Dishonesty +seems to be a part of their very nature; and, moreover, +all their tastes and inclinations are coarse and sensual. Many +warm defenders excuse these qualities by ascribing them to the +want of education, the recollection of slavery, the spirit of revenge, +etc. But I here speak of free-born negroes, who are +admitted into the houses of wealthy families, who, from their +early childhood, have received as good an education as falls to +the share of many of the white Creoles—who are treated with +kindness and liberally remunerated, and yet they do not differ +from their half-savage brethren who are shut out from these +advantages. If the negro has learned to read and write, and has +thereby made some little advance in education, he is transformed +into a conceited coxcomb, who, instead of plundering travellers +on the highway, finds in city life a sphere for the indulgence of +his evil propensities.... My opinion is, that the negroes, +in respect to capability for mental improvement, are far behind +the Europeans; and that, considered in the aggregate, they will +not, even with the advantages of careful education, attain a very +high degree of cultivation. This is apparent from the structure +of the skull, on which depends the development of the brain, +and which, in the negro, approximates closely to the animal +form. The imitative faculty of the monkey is highly developed +in the negro, who readily seizes anything merely mechanical, +whilst things demanding intelligence are beyond his reach. +Sensuality is the impulse which controls the thoughts, the acts, +the whole existence of the negroes. To them, freedom can be +only nominal, for if they conduct themselves well, it is because +they are compelled, not because they are inclined to do so. +Herein lie at once the cause of, and the apology for, their bad +character." (<cite>Travels in Peru</cite>, London, 1848, p. 110, <i>et passim</i>.)—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-195">195</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-196" id="Footnote-196"></a> The sickening moral degradation of some of the branches of +our species is well known to the student of anthropology, though, +for obvious reasons, details of this kind cannot find a place in +books destined for the general reader.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-196">196</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-197" id="Footnote-197"></a> As many of the terms of modern ethnography have not yet +found their way into the dictionaries, I shall offer a short explanation +of the meaning of this word, for the benefit of those +readers who have not paid particular attention to that science. +</p><p> +The word "Arian" is derived from <em>Aryas</em> or <ins class="greek" title="Transliteration: Arioi" xml:lang="el" lang="el">Αριοι</ins>, respectively +the indigenous and the Greek designation of the ancient Medes, +and is applied to a race, or rather a family of races, whose original +ethnological area is not as yet accurately defined, but who +have gradually spread from the centre of Asia to the mouth of +the Ganges, to the British Isles, and the northern extremities of +Scandinavia. To this family of races belong, among others, +the ancient Medes and Persians, the white conquerors of India +(now forming the caste of the Brahmins), <em>and the Germanic races</em>. +The whole group is often called Indo-European. The affinities +between the Greek and the German languages had long been an +interesting question to philologists; but Schlegel, I believe, was +the first to discover the intimate relations between these two +and the Sanscrit, and he applied to the whole three, and their +collateral branches, the name of <em>Indo-Germanic</em> languages. +The discovery attracted the attention both of philologists and +ethnographers, and it is now indubitably proved that the civilizers +of India, and the subverters of the Roman Empire are +descended from the same ethnical stock. It is known that the +Sanscrit is as unlike all other Indian languages, as the high-caste +Brahmins are unlike the Pariahs and all the other aboriginal +races of that country; and Latham has lately come to the +conclusion that it has actually been <em>carried to India from Europe</em>. +It will be seen from this that Mr. Gobineau, in his view of the +origin of various civilizations, is supported in at least several of +the most important instances. +</p><p> +It is a familiar saying that <em>civilization travels westward</em>: if +we believe ethnologists, the Arian races have <em>always migrated +in that direction</em>—from Central Asia to India, to Asia Minor, to +Egypt, to Greece, to Western Europe, to the western coasts of +the Atlantic, and the same impulse of migration is now carrying +them to the Pacific.—H.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-197">197</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-198" id="Footnote-198"></a> Natural History of Man and Monkeys.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-198">198</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-199" id="Footnote-199"></a> Fauna and Flora within Living Animals, p. 9.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-199">199</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-200" id="Footnote-200"></a> Doctrine of the Unity of the Human Race, p. 10.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-200">200</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-201" id="Footnote-201"></a> We are told that the pigs in one department of France are +all black, in another, all white, and local causes are assigned! +When I was a boy, my father introduced what was then called +the China hog into the Union District, South Carolina; they +were black, with white faces. On a visit to that district about +twelve years ago, I found the whole country for 40 miles covered +with them. On a visit one year ago, I found they had been +supplanted entirely by other breeds of different colors: the old +familiar type had disappeared.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-201">201</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-202" id="Footnote-202"></a> <cite>Op. cit.</cite>, p. 177.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-202">202</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-203" id="Footnote-203"></a> <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Domestication et Naturalization des Animaux utiles</cite>, par M. +Isadore Geoffroy St. Hilaire, p. 71, Paris, 1854.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-203">203</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-204" id="Footnote-204"></a> Ibid.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-204">204</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-205" id="Footnote-205"></a> Columbia, p. 135.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-205">205</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-206" id="Footnote-206"></a> <cite xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">De la Longevité Humaine</cite>, &c., par P. Flourens, Paris, 1855.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-206">206</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-207" id="Footnote-207"></a> M. Flourens here, perhaps, speaks too positively. The +blood of the apparently lost species will show itself from time +to time for many, if not endless generations.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-207">207</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-208" id="Footnote-208"></a> <cite>Op. cit.</cite></p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-208">208</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-209" id="Footnote-209"></a> <cite>Op. cit.</cite>, p. 122.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-209">209</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-210" id="Footnote-210"></a> It has been objected, that the drawings cannot be relied on, +as some of these types are no longer to be found. But there +are several well-marked types of domestic animals on the old +monuments that no longer exist, because they have been supplanted +by better breeds. In this country several varieties of +the Indian dogs are rapidly disappearing for the same reason. +The llama must give place, in the same way, to the cow and the +horse. Many other instances may be cited.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-210">210</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-211" id="Footnote-211"></a> <cite>Op. cit.</cite>, p. 29. 1854.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-211">211</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-212" id="Footnote-212"></a> <cite>Op. cit.</cite>, p. 101.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-212">212</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-213" id="Footnote-213"></a> <cite>Op. cit.</cite>, p. 53.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-213">213</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-214" id="Footnote-214"></a> <cite>Geographical Dist.</cite>, p. 17. +</p><p> +This work, I believe, is not yet issued, but Dr. Pickering has +kindly sent me the first 150 pages, as printed.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-214">214</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-215" id="Footnote-215"></a> Prichard, <cite>Nat. Hist. of Man</cite>, p. 8. London, 1843.</p> +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-215">215</a>]</span> </li> + +<li class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote-216" id="Footnote-216"></a> See "<cite>Types of Mankind</cite>," by Nott and Gliddon.</p> + +<span class="label">[<a title="Return to text." href="#FNanchor-216">216</a>]</span> </li> +</ol> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<hr /> +<p> </p> + +<div class="note tbreak" title="Transcriber Notes"> +<p class="center">Return to <a href="#TN">Top of Page</a> or list of <a href="#TOC">Contents</a></p> +</div> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="full" /> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY OF RACES***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 37115-h.txt or 37115-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br /> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/7/1/1/37115">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/1/1/37115</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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