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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of
+Races, by Arthur, comte de Gobineau
+
+
+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 www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Moral and Intellectual Diversity of Races
+ With Particular Reference to Their Respective Influence in the Civil and Political History of Mankind
+
+
+Author: Arthur, comte de Gobineau
+
+
+
+Release Date: August 17, 2011 [eBook #37115]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL
+DIVERSITY OF RACES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Fritz Ohrenschall, Sarah Thomson, and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+ +---------------------------------------------------------+
+ |Transcriber's note: |
+ | |
+ | Text transliterated from Greek is enclosed by tilde |
+ | characters (~transliterated Greek~). |
+ | |
+ | Text that was in small capitals has been converted to |
+ | all upper case. |
+ | |
+ | The oe ligature has been removed from words such as |
+ | Boeotia and foetus. |
+ | |
+ | A list of corrections is at the end of this e-book. |
+ +---------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY OF RACES.
+
+With Particular Reference to Their Respective Influence
+in the Civil and Political History Of Mankind.
+
+From the French of COUNT A. DE GOBINEAU:
+
+With an Analytical Introduction and Copious Historical Notes.
+By H. Hotz.
+
+To Which Is Added an Appendix Containing a Summary
+of the Latest Scientific Facts Bearing upon the
+Question of Unity or Plurality of Species.
+By J. C. Nott, M. D., of Mobile.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Philadelphia:
+J. B. Lippincott & Co.
+1856.
+
+Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by
+J. B. Lippincott & Co.,
+in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United
+States in and for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
+
+
+
+
+ TO THE
+
+ STATESMEN OF AMERICA,
+
+ THIS WORK,
+
+ THE FIRST ON THE RACES OF MEN CONTEMPLATED FROM THE
+ POINT OF VIEW OF THE STATESMAN AND HISTORIAN
+ RATHER THAN THE NATURALIST,
+
+ IS
+
+ RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
+
+ BY THE
+
+ AMERICAN EDITOR.
+
+
+
+
+EDITOR'S PREFACE.
+
+
+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 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 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.
+
+ H. H.
+
+ PHILADELPHIA, _Nov. 1, 1855_.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+ANALYTICAL INTRODUCTION.
+
+ 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.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+POLITICAL CATASTROPHES.
+
+ Perishable condition of all human societies--Ancient ideas concerning
+ this phenomenon--Modern theories 105
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ALLEGED CAUSES OF POLITICAL CATASTROPHES EXAMINED.
+
+ FANATICISM--Aztec Empire of Mexico.--LUXURY--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.--IRRELIGION--Never spreads through all
+ ranks of a nation--Greece and Rome--Tenacity of Paganism 114
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+INFLUENCE OF GOVERNMENT UPON THE LONGEVITY OF NATIONS.
+
+ Misgovernment defined--Athens, China, Spain, Germany, Italy, etc.--Is
+ not in itself a sufficient cause for the ruin of nations. 138
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+DEFINITION OF THE WORD DEGENERACY--ITS CAUSE.
+
+ 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. 146
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY OF RACES IS NOT THE RESULT OF
+POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS.
+
+ 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 172
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THIS DIVERSITY IS NOT THE RESULT OF GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION.
+
+ America--Ancient empires--Phenicians and Romans--Jews--Greece and
+ Rome--Commercial cities of Europe--Isthmus of Darien 201
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY UPON MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY OF
+RACES.
+
+ 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 215
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO CHAPTERS VIII. AND IX.
+
+ 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 234
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+CIVILIZATION.
+
+ Mr. Guizot's and Mr. W. von Humboldt's definitions examined. Its
+ elements 246
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+ELEMENTS OF CIVILIZATION--CONTINUED.
+
+ 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 272
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+QUESTION OF UNITY OR PLURALITY OF RACES.
+
+ 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 312
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+PERMANENCY OF TYPES.
+
+ 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 336
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+CLASSIFICATION OF RACES.
+
+ 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 368
+
+
+NOTE TO THE PRECEDING CHAPTER.
+
+ The position and treatment of woman among the various races of men a
+ proof of their moral and intellectual diversity 384
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+PERFECTIBILITY OF MAN.
+
+ 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 391
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+MUTUAL RELATIONS OF DIFFERENT MODES OF INTELLECTUAL CULTURE.
+
+ 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. 414
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THREE GREAT VARIETIES.
+
+ 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 439
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+BY J. C. NOTT, M. D.
+
+ A.--Dr. Morton's later tables 461
+
+ B.--Species; varieties. Latest experiments upon the laws of
+ hybridity 473
+
+ C.--Biblical connections of the question of unity or plurality of
+ species 504
+
+
+
+ANALYTICAL INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+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 way, and using such additional illustrations as the nature of the
+subject seemed to require.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+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,[1] "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 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?"
+
+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 by all parties, and whether
+these races are _distinct species_ or _permanent varieties_[2] 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 _vice
+versa_, 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.
+
+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.
+
+"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 _Wealth of Nations_[3] 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
+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."[4] Again: "As all
+men, in all nations, are of the same species, are endowed with the same
+senses and feelings, and receive their 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."[5] 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 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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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, 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 belonged to that class.
+He himself hath said:[6] "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?
+
+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 _intellectually_
+inferior race equal to a superior one, because it was 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 _specific differences of civilization_, when
+the term _Christian civilization_ will also be examined.
+
+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 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 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
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 always
+sufficiently respected. The great Prichard himself seems sometimes to
+have lost sight of it.[7] 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 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.[8] 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.[9] Never, 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 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 _rarae aves_ are of pure blood or not, as is often the case.[10]
+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.
+
+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 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 perfect, in its own way, as
+ours, nay more so.[11] 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 aegis, 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.[12] Moreover it has excellencies
+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
+_civilized_ nations--passed through this stage of semi-civilization?
+
+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, 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.
+
+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
+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.
+
+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
+_degree only_ of their development. Geographical position cannot explain
+them, because the people who have made the greatest advance, have 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 receive the blessings of liberty, lest they prove a curse.
+
+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 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 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 _Home Life in Germany_, 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?
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+Few terms of equal importance are so vaguely defined as the term
+CIVILIZATION; 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: _enlightenment_. 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?
+
+Is the diffusion of knowledge by popular education to be the test? Then
+Great Britain and 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[13].
+
+Is the perfection to which the arts are carried, the test of
+civilization? Then Bavaria and Italy 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.[14]
+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
+_American civilization_ 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 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,[15] 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
+_outside barbarians_.
+
+Here, then, we have indubitable proofs of moral and intellectual
+diversities, not only in what are 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.
+
+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 _European_ civilization. And, in the same
+manner, the nations of Asia form distinct systems of civilizations. But
+all these systems ultimately tend 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.
+
+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 _vice versa_. 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
+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 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.
+
+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 Boeotia 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, 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.
+
+As it is incompatible with the wisdom of the Creator, to suppose that
+each nation was not specially fitted[16] for the part assigned to it, we
+may judge of what they were capable of by what they have accomplished.
+
+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 _magistra vitae_, has received
+within our days an impulse such as it never had before. The invaluable
+archaeological 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,
+_instincts_, which actuated them, and made them what they were. The
+hoary pyramids of the Nile valley are forced to divulge their age, the
+date of a former civilization; the temples and sepulchres, to furnish a
+minute account of even the private life of their builders;[17] 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.
+
+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 _ethnology_, we do not mean
+_ethnography_, with which it has long been synonymous. Their meaning
+differs in the same manner, they bear almost the same relation to one
+another as _geology_ and _geography_. 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
+_London Ethnological Journal_, "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."[18]
+The importance of this study cannot be better expressed than in the
+words of a writer in the _North British Review_ for August, 1849: "No
+one that has not 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, _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_."[19]
+
+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 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 _race_[20] we mean, both here and in the body of
+the 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 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,[21] 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.
+
+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 _degree_ 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 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 _genius_ 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 _genius_ 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--_instinct_.
+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 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 _kind_ in the mental endowments of races, in
+cases where we would hesitate to make distinctions of _degree_. In fact,
+it is saying of multitudes only what we say of an individual by speaking
+of his _talent_; 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.
+
+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 _nation_ and
+_people_ 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.
+
+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 _a
+population consisting of homogeneous ethnical elements_.
+
+The word _people_, on the contrary, when applied to an aggregation of
+individuals living under the same government, implies no immediate
+consanguineous ties among them. _Nation_ does not necessarily imply
+political unity; _people_, always. Thus, we speak of the Greek _nation_,
+though the Greeks were divided into a number of independent and very
+dissimilar sovereignties; but, we say the Roman _people_, 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 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.[22]
+
+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
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 find them ruling nations
+whose language they did not understand, whose manners they despised.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+The armies which Xerxes led into Greece were not Persians; but a small
+fragment of that motley congregation, the _elite_, 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 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.
+
+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?
+
+It is not, then, an extensive territory that ruins nations; it is a
+diversity of instincts, a clashing 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.
+
+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 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.[23]
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 _vice versa_. Its nature 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.
+
+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
+_Democracy in America_, in my favor, and the author's whom I am
+illustrating. "A government," says De Tocqueville,[24] "retains its sway
+over a great number of citizens, far less by the voluntary and rational
+consent of the multitude, than by that _instinctive_, 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 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
+_vox populi_, 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.
+
+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 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 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.
+
+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.
+
+An empire, then, falls, when the vitalizing principle 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."[25] "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."[26]
+
+I have now illustrated, to the best of my abilities, several of the most
+important propositions of 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.
+
+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.
+
+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
+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.
+
+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.[27]
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 _mind_, 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 _a superior mind_, 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. 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
+_psychical_, as divisible into two, the strictly moral, and the
+intellectual.
+
+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 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 _faith_ we owe
+to the grace of God.
+
+Intellect is that faculty of soul by which it takes cognizance of,
+classes and compares the facts of the _material_ 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 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
+_human_ fabric, that the most perfect human theology is still _human_,
+and 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 _nobler_ 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.
+
+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 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 _physique_, 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.
+
+It is true that science has not discovered, and perhaps never will
+discover, what physical differences correspond to the differences in
+individual 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 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.
+
+To return, then, to our author. I would add to his two elements of
+civilization a third--intellect _per se_; 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.
+
+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. Gobineau and Mr. Latham[28]
+have arranged the various races--a classification, however, which, as I
+already observed, I cannot entirely approve.
+
+
+ BLACK RACES, OR YELLOW RACES, OR WHITE RACES, OR
+ ATLANTIDAE.[29] MONGOLIDAE.[29] JAPETIDAE.[29]
+
+ INTELLECT Feeble Mediocre Vigorous.
+
+ ANIMAL }
+ PROPENSITIES } Very strong Moderate Strong.
+
+ MORAL } Partially Comparatively Highly
+ MANIFESTATIONS } latent developed cultivated.
+
+
+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:--
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+Where the animal propensities are weak and the intellect feeble, a
+vegetating national life results. No political organization, or of the
+very 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+I have here rapidly sketched a series of pictures 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.
+
+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 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
+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.
+
+With regard to the translation, it must be observed that it is not a
+_literal_ 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 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.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+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 _equal_ only when they truly and faithfully perform
+the duties of 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.
+
+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 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
+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!
+
+ H. H.
+ MOBILE, Aug. 20, 1855.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] _Researches into the Physical History of Mankind_. By James Cowles
+Prichard, M. D., London, 1841. Vol. i. p. 1.
+
+[2] "Mr. Prichard's _permanent variety_, from his own definition, is to
+all intents and purposes _a species_."--_Kneeland's Introduction to
+Hamilton Smith's Natural History of the Human Species_, p. 84.
+
+[3] Smith's Wealth of Nations, Amer. ed., vol. i. p. 29.
+
+[4] _Vide_ Bigland's Effects of Physical and Moral Causes on the
+Character and Circumstances of Nations. London, 1828, p. 282.
+
+[5] _Op. cit._, p. 7.
+
+[6] St. Matthew, ch. xi. v. 25.
+
+[7] _Vide_ Prichard's _Natural History of Man_, p. 66, _et passim_. "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."--_Natural History of Man_, by W. F. VAN AMRINGE. 1848, p. 459.
+
+[8] This fact is considered by Dr. Nott as a proof of _specific_
+difference among dogs.--_Types of Mankind._ Phila., 1854.
+
+[9] 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.
+
+[10] 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.
+
+[11] For the great perfection to which the Chinese have carried the
+luxuries and amenities of life, see particularly M. Huc's _Travels in
+China_. 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.
+
+[12] 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. _Consult
+Pauthier's elaborate work on China._ 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 _Davis's Sketches_, 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:--
+
+_Description Historique, Geographique, et Litteraire de la Chine._ Par
+M. G. PAUTHIER. Paris, 1839.
+
+_China Opened._ By REV. CHS. GUTZLAFF. London, 1838.
+
+_China, Political, Commercial, and Social._ By R. MONTGOMERY MARTIN.
+London, 1847.
+
+_Sketches of China._ By JOHN F. DAVIS. London, 1841.
+
+And above all, for amusing and instructive reading,
+
+_Journey through the Chinese Empire._ By M. HUC. New York, 1855; and
+
+_Melanges Asiatiques._ Par ABEL REMUSAT. Paris, 1835.
+
+[13] 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 _J. Mohl's Annual Report to the Asiatic Society_, 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.
+
+"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 facades 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."--_A Journey through the Chinese Empire_, vol. i. pp. 327-328.
+
+[14] 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.
+
+[15] Brace, in his _Home Life in Germany_, 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'
+_boudoir_ 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?
+
+[16] 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."--_The Races of
+Man, and their Geographical Distribution._ By CHARLES PICKERING, M. D.
+Boston, 1811. (_U. S. Exploring Expedition_, vol. ix. p. 200.)
+
+[17] 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.
+
+[18] _Ethnological Journal_, edited by Luke Burke, London, 1848; June 1,
+No. 1, from _Types of Mankind_. By NOTT and GLIDDON, p. 49.
+
+[19] From _Types of Mankind_. By NOTT and GLIDDON, p. 52.
+
+[20] The term "race" is of relative meaning, and, though often
+erroneously used synonymously with _species_, 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.
+
+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.
+
+[21] _Natural History of the Varieties of Man._ By ROBERT GORDON LATHAM.
+London, 1850.
+
+[22] 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.
+
+[23] 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
+_ante-hellenic civilization in Greece, of which we have no record_,
+particularly the ruins of Orchomonos, Tirgus, Mycene, and the tunnels of
+Lake Copais, see _Niebuhr's Ancient History_, vol. i. p. 241, _et
+passim_.
+
+[24] Democracy in America, vol. ii. ch. xviii. p. 424.
+
+[25] Daniel ii. 44.
+
+[26] Daniel ii. 31 to 35.
+
+[27] 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!
+
+"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."--_Voyages en
+Chine_, par M. Huc, Amer. trans., vol. i. pp. 316 and 317.
+
+[28] Nat. Hist. of the Varieties of Man. London.
+
+[29] According to Latham's classification, _op. cit._
+
+
+
+
+ DIVERSITY OF RACES.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+POLITICAL CATASTROPHES.
+
+ Perishable condition of all human societies--Ancient ideas concerning
+ this phenomenon--Modern theories.
+
+
+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 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.
+
+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.[30] 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 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?
+
+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 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.
+
+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 in the horizon of her grandeur, entertained
+no doubt as to the eternity of hers.[31] 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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 Abbe Raynal.
+Conservative in the one, cynically aggressive in the other, it is
+erroneous in both.
+
+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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[30] A. de Humboldt, Examen Critique de l'Histoire de la Geographie du
+Nouveau Continent. Paris.
+
+[31] Amadee Thierry, _La Gaule sous l'Administration Romaine_, vol. i.
+p. 244.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+ALLEGED CAUSES OF POLITICAL CATASTROPHES EXAMINED.
+
+ FANATICISM--Aztec Empire of Mexico.--LUXURY--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.--IRRELIGION--Never spreads through all
+ ranks of a nation--Greece and Rome--Tenacity of Paganism.
+
+
+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, 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 _necessarily_ occasion the ruin of nations.
+
+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.
+
+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?[32] Our
+remote ancestors, the barbarous nations of Northern Europe, did indeed
+practise this unholy rite, but they never chose for their sacrifices
+innocent victims,[33] 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[34] 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, 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.[35]
+
+Nor are luxury or enervation more powerful in their effects. These
+vices are almost always peculiar 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.[36]
+
+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.[37] 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 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.[38]
+
+So far from being willing to accord to youthful communities any
+superiority in regard to morals, 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.[39] Manners become milder; men accommodate themselves more
+readily to one another; the means of subsistence become, if not 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 Chaeronaea, 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.
+
+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 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.[40] 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.
+
+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 the appearance of men remarkable for energy of character
+and stern virtue.[41] 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.
+
+Public morality, indeed, varies greatly at different periods of a
+nation's history. The history of the French nation, better than any
+other, illustrates 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.[42] Individually
+taken, they were often not inferior to the latter in courage and
+military virtue.[43] 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, 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+Aspasia at her evening parties, and Lelius among his intimates, might
+ridicule the religious 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 Aeschylus, 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
+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[44] had to snatch moments of leisure from
+the all-absorbing game of politics, to compose a treatise on haruspicy.
+I allude to the first Caesar.[45] 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 than any of his
+predecessors, was compelled to compromise with the still powerful
+ancient religion of the nation.[46] 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.
+
+In the latter stages of the Roman empire, the armies had acquired such
+undue political preponderance, 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 their
+fury against the Christians. The real sceptics were such men as King
+Agrippa, who wishes to hear St. Paul[47] 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[32] See Prescott's _History of the Conquest of Mexico_.
+
+[33] C. F. Weber, _M. A. Lucani Pharsalia_. Leipzig, 1828, vol. i. pp.
+122-123, _note_.
+
+[34] Prichard, _Natural History of Man_.--Dr. Martius is still more
+explicit. (See _Martius and Spix_, _Reise in Brasilien_. Munich, vol. i.
+pp. 379-380.)
+
+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.--_Transl._
+
+[35] 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.
+
+"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 _others,
+half-burned, brak out of the fire, and were cast in it again, till they
+were burned to death_." Entry in Sir Thomas Hamilton's _Minutes of
+Proceedings in the Privy Council_. (From W. Scott's _Letters on
+Demonology and Witchcraft_, p. 315.)
+
+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 _Magnalia Christi Americana_, Hardford. _Thau.
+Pneu_, c. vii. p. 383, _et passim_.)
+
+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 _boots_, the finger-bones splintered in the _pilniewinks_," etc.
+(Scott, _op. cit._, p. 312.) But then, it is true, they had a more
+_gentle_ 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 _loading the bare shins with bars of iron_.
+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, _op. cit._, pp. 321, 324, 327, etc. etc.)
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+[36] 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 _aristocratic_ 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 _democratic_ 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.
+
+[37] Balzac, _Lettre a Madame la Duchesse de Montausier_.
+
+[38] 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."--_Essays_, iii. 389.--H.
+
+[39] 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 _Antiquities_, 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 '_l'amour du bon vieux temps, l'amour antique_'
+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.)" _Preface to Childe Harold._ 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.
+
+[40] 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 _par excellence_, of
+revolutions, _emeutes_, 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 _private_ charity, which inquires not after the country or
+creed of its object.--H.
+
+[41] 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.
+
+[42] 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 _preceptions_, 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."--MONTESQUIEU, _Esprit des Lois_, b. 31, c. 2.--H.
+
+[43] Augustin Thierry, _Recit des Temps Merovingiens_. (See particularly
+the _History of Mummolus_.)
+
+[44] Lucretius was the author of _De Rerum Natura_, 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.
+
+[45] Caesar, 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."--_Suetonius_,
+_Julius_, 5.
+
+Are not these sentiments very monarchical for a democrat; very religious
+for an atheist?
+
+[46] 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.
+
+[47] Acts xxvi. 24, 28, 31.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+INFLUENCE OF GOVERNMENT UPON THE LONGEVITY OF NATIONS.
+
+ Misgovernment defined--Athens, China, Spain, Germany, Italy, etc.--Is
+ not in itself a sufficient cause for the ruin of nations.
+
+
+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, 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.[48]
+
+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.
+
+A government is bad, when imposed by foreign influence. Athens
+experienced this evil under the thirty tyrants. Yet she shook off the
+odious yoke, and patriotism, far from expiring, gained renewed vigor by
+the oppression.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.[49]
+
+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 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.
+
+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,[50]
+and so various are the opinions concerning it, that nations have early
+and frequent opportunities of learning to accommodate 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.[51]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[48] 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, page 114.
+
+[49] 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
+_independence_ 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.
+
+[50] Who is not reminded of Oxenstierna's famous saying to his son: "Cum
+parva sapientia mundus gubernatur."--H.
+
+[51] 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 Caesar 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 Caesar 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 _crevasse_: 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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+DEFINITION OF THE WORD DEGENERACY--ITS CAUSE.
+
+ 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.
+
+
+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 shorter or longer
+period of suffering, will escape their toils, perhaps with renewed vigor
+and youth.
+
+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.
+
+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 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 _degeneracy_ 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.[52] The step
+beyond, I shall attempt to make.
+
+In my opinion, a nation is degenerate, when the blood of its founders no
+longer flows in its veins, but has been gradually deteriorated by
+successive foreign admixtures; so that the nation, while retaining its
+original name, is no longer composed of the same elements. The
+attenuation 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 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.
+
+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:--
+
+Is there, in reality, a serious and palpable difference in the capacity
+and intrinsic worth of different branches of the human family?
+
+For the sake of clearness, I shall advance, _a priori_, 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
+_degeneracy_.
+
+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 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.
+
+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,[53] 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
+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.[54] A tribe with superior
+intellectual 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
+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.[55] 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 as one. This is the
+general history of the rise of all empires whose records have been
+transmitted to us.[56] An inferior race, by falling into the hands 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.[57] But, if there is a decided disparity in 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.
+
+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 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.[58] In some instances, 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, 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.
+
+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 _primum mobile_ 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?
+
+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 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.
+
+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.[59] In this case
+the vanquished were intellectually and numerically superior to their
+victors. I shall mention 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.
+
+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 those laws of her own, which she now secretly obeys, or of
+which she is tacitly left in possession.
+
+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.[60]
+
+I, therefore, consider the question as settled, which has been so often
+discussed, as to what would have been the result, if the Carthaginians,
+instead of succumbing to the fortune of Rome, 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.
+
+The destiny of civilizations is not ruled by accident; it depends not on
+the issue of a battle, 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.
+
+The whole of my demonstration now rests upon one hypothesis, the proof
+of which I have reserved for the succeeding chapters: THE MORAL AND
+INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITIES OF THE VARIOUS BRANCHES OF THE HUMAN FAMILY.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[52] 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+I believe that an advanced state of civilization, accompanied by long
+peace, gives rise to a certain _domestication_ 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?
+
+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 Caesar'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.
+
+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.
+
+[53] "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."--_Origin of Laws and Sciences, and their Progress among the
+most Ancient Nations._ By President DE GOGUET. Edinburgh, 1761, vol. i.
+pp. 272-273.--H.
+
+[54] "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. _It was in the bosom of great
+empires the arts were invented, and the sciences had their
+birth._"--_Op. cit._, vol. i. Book 5, p. 326.--H.
+
+[55] 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.
+
+[56] 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 _plebs_. The
+distinction by nations was forgotten, and had become a distinction of
+_classes_. Then began the progress which Mr. Gobineau describes. The
+Plebeians first gained their _tribunes_, 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
+_comitia_, 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.
+
+Wherever we see an hereditary aristocracy (whether called class or
+caste), it will be found to originate in a race, which, if no longer
+_dominant_, was once conqueror. Before the Norman conquest, the English
+aristocracy was _Saxon_, there were no nobles of the ancient British
+blood, east of Wales; after the conquest, the aristocracy was _Norman_,
+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 _Frankish_ or
+_Burgundian_ 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."--_Lect. on Anc. Hist._ (In the English translation, this
+passage occurs in vol. i. p. 90.)
+
+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'Abbe 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.
+
+[57] "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 _new government_ 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."--DE LOLME'S _English Constitution_, c. i., _note_
+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."--MACAULAY'S
+_History of England_, vol. i. p. 10.--H.
+
+[58] 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
+Cannae, 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 _Prussian State-Gazette_, in
+1828, and for which I am indebted to a little German volume, _Das
+Menschengeschlecht auf seinem Gegenwaertigen Standpuncte_, by
+SMIDT-PHISELDECK), 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:--
+
+ 1,084 highest nobility (princes, dukes, marshals of France, generals,
+ and other officers, etc. etc.)
+ 636 of the gentry (members of Parliament, judges, etc. etc.)
+ 113 of the bourgeoisie (including non-commissioned officers and
+ soldiers.)
+ -----
+ 1,833
+
+Such facts require no comments.--H.
+
+[59] 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. (_Ins. in China_, 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 _ca ira_,
+we know that to-morrow the _Red Republic_ 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 _three principles_, 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.'" (_Hist. of the Insur. in Ch._, 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).
+
+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.
+
+[60] 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 _en masse_.
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+THE MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY OF RACES IS NOT THE RESULT OF
+POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS.
+
+ 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.
+
+
+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 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.[61] Not even a common religion can extinguish
+the hereditary aversion of the Arab[62] 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 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.[63] 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 Aeolus, contains so many tempests, is soon followed by the scientific.
+It is 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 Caesar or a Charlemagne, among his
+bards and medicine-men, a Homer or a Hippocrates?
+
+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. 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.
+
+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 _Graeculus_, 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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 with their views and sentiments: it must be the reflex of
+the national character.[64] 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.
+
+False institutions, often beautiful on paper, are those which are not
+conformed to the national virtues _or failings_, 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.[65] 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.[66]
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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., 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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, _nolens volens_, forced upon a nation by a superior
+power.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.[67] In the North, a different method
+has been pursued, but with results equally negative; nay, in the eyes
+of philanthropy, more deplorable; for, while the Spanish Indians have
+at least increased in numbers,[68] 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.
+
+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 proof of the
+futility of any attempts to give to a nation institutions not suggested
+by its own genius.
+
+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, 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.[69] 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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 _written_ laws, or the _official_
+language; the recollections of the land of Ham are _officially_ expunged
+from every mind; once more, the institutions are completely European.
+Let us now examine how they harmonize with the manners.
+
+What a contrast! The manners are as depraved, as beastly, as ferocious
+as in Dahomey[70] 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 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.
+
+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 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 _primum mobile_ of their local policy. Owing 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.[71]
+
+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.[72]
+
+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 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, 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.[73]
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[61] The author of _Democracy in America_ (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 _instinct_ 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 Sevigne'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 Sevigne 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.
+
+[62] 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.
+
+[63]
+ The man
+ Of virtuous soul commands not, nor obeys.
+ Power, like a desolating pestilence,
+ Pollutes whate'er it touches; and obedience,
+ Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth,
+ Makes slaves of man, and of the human frame
+ A mechanized automaton.
+
+SHELLEY, _Queen Mab_.
+
+[64] 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."--_Esprit des Lois_, b. xix. c. 27.--H.
+
+[65] "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."--_Niebuhr's Ancient History_, vol. i. p.
+306.--H.
+
+[66] See note on page 121.
+
+[67] 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, _three_ millions of pure whites, including about
+200,000 Europeans." (_Pers. Nar._, 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." (_Dr. Tschudi, Travels in Peru, during the
+years 1838-1842._ 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! (_Op. cit._, p.
+331-334.)--H.
+
+[68] A. von Humboldt, _Examen critique de l'Histoire et de la Geographie
+du N. C._, vol. ii. p. 129-130.
+
+The same opinion is expressed by Mr. Humboldt in his _Personal
+Narrative_. London, 1852, vol. i. p. 296.--H.
+
+[69] 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.'"--_Journal of a Naturalist_, vol. ii. p. 208.--H.
+
+[70] For the latest details, see Mr. Gustave d'Alaux's articles in the
+_Revue des Deux Mondes_, 1853.
+
+[71] 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
+_envoye_ several years, for the purpose of collecting authentic
+information for his government, and his statements may therefore be
+relied upon. (_Notes on Hayti_, vol. ii. note FF. London, 1830.)
+
+ SUGAR. COTTON. COFFEE.
+ lbs. lbs. lbs.
+
+ 1789 141,089,831 7,004,274 76,835,219
+ 1826 32,864 620,972 32,189,784
+
+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. (_Op. cit._, 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 _double_ the amount of the annual revenue! (_Ibid._,
+"Finance.")
+
+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 _Annuaire de la Revue del deux Mondes_,
+"Haiti," p. 876, _et seq._, where some curious details about his majesty
+and his majesty's sable subjects will be found.
+
+[72] Upon this subject, consult Prichard, d'Orbigny, and A. de Humboldt.
+
+[73] 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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THIS DIVERSITY IS NOT THE RESULT OF GEOGRAPHICAL SITUATION.
+
+ America--Ancient empires--Phenicians and Romans--Jews--Greece and
+ Rome--Commercial cities of Europe--Isthmus of Darien.
+
+
+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.
+
+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 useful
+and precious ores--that a nation thus favored by nature, would soon be
+prompted to cast off barbarism, and progress rapidly in
+civilization.[74] 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.
+
+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, 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.
+
+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.[75] The remains of
+buildings, inscriptions on rocks, the tumuli,[76] 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 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.
+
+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.[77] 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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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, and would probably never have become an
+illustrious nation."[78]
+
+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 state even in localities best adapted for that purpose.
+
+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 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.[79]
+
+Let us look at Greece. Arcadia was the paradise of the shepherd, and
+Boeotia, the favored land of Ceres and Triptolemus: yet, Arcadia and
+Boeotia 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.
+
+Who would dare to assert that Rome owed her 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.
+
+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. 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.
+
+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.[80] There are, upon
+our globe, various points which may be called the keys of the world.
+Thus, it is 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.
+
+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.[81]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[74] Consult, among others, Carus: _Uber ungleiche Befaehigung der
+vershiedenen Menschen-staemme fuer hoehere geistige Entwickelung._ Leipzig,
+1849, p. 96 _et passim_.
+
+[75] Prichard, _Natural History of Man_, vol. ii.
+
+See particularly the recent researches of E. G. Squier, published in
+1847, under the title: _Observations on the Aboriginal Monuments of the
+Mississippi Valley_, and also in various late reviews and other
+periodicals.
+
+[76] 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.
+
+[77] Ancient India required, on the part of its first white colonists,
+immense labor of cultivation and improvement. (See Lassen, _Indische
+Alterthumskunde_, vol. i.) As to Egypt, see what Chevalier Bunsen,
+_Aegypten's Stelle in der Weltgeschichte_, says of the fertilization of
+the Fayoum, that gigantic work of the earliest sovereigns.
+
+[78] "Why have accidental circumstances always prevented some from
+rising, while they have only stimulated others to higher
+attainments?"--_Dr. Kneeland's Introd. to Hamilton Smith's Nat. Hist. of
+Man_, p. 95.--H.
+
+[79] Salvador, _Histoire des Juifs_.
+
+[80] M. Saint-Marc Girardin, _Revue des Deux Mondes_.
+
+[81] See, upon this often-debated subject, the opinion--somewhat acerbly
+expressed--of a learned historian and philologist:--
+
+"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."--EWALD, _Geschichte des Volkes
+Israel_, vol. i. p. 259.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY UPON MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL DIVERSITY OF
+RACES.
+
+ 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.
+
+
+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.
+
+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?
+
+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;[82] tortured in Madagascar; perishing under the lash in Japan.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 _Christian civilization_.
+
+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, 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,[83] and
+from 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.
+
+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
+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 _civilized_ 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,[84] the term would
+then be 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 _Catholic_, or Universal.
+
+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, 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.
+
+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.[85] The Cherokees, in the northern part of the same
+continent, have nearly 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.
+
+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, 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.
+
+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,
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Deprived of their hereditary dominions by the American government, they
+were forced--under a treaty of transplantation--to emigrate to regions
+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,[86] my authority for these facts, and who
+derives them himself from the great work of Mr. Gallatin,[87] 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,[88] while it is easy
+to conceive the 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.
+
+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 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.[89] Such exultation on the part of the believers in
+the equality of races is little flattering to those who excite it.
+
+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 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.
+
+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, resulting from their
+mixture with the whites, but partaking only feebly of the character of
+European civilization.
+
+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.
+
+There is a vast difference between imitation and comprehension. The
+imitation of a civilization does not necessarily imply an eradication
+of the hereditary instincts. A _nation_ 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[82] 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 _Annals of
+the Propagation of the Faith_, No. 135, et seq.)--H.
+
+[83] 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.
+
+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 _Hist. of
+Civilization_, vol. i. p. 213.--H.
+
+[84] I have already pointed out, in my introduction (p. 41-43), 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.
+
+[85] See note on page 188.--H.
+
+[86] _Natural History of Man_, p. 390. London, 1843.
+
+[87] _Synopsis of the Indian Tribes of North America._
+
+[88] 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." (_Dem. in Am._, 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.
+
+[89] "When four pieces of cards were laid before them, each having a
+number pronounced _once_ 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."--_Vest. of Cr._, p. 236.--H.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO CHAPTERS VIII. AND IX.
+
+ 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.
+
+
+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.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+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 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
+_Teutonic_, 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.
+
+The words _Teutonic_ and _Germanic_ 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 "_Thiudu_," or the nation _par excellence_, and
+from that word the term Teutonic is supposed to be derived. Many of
+their descendants still retain the name: _Teutsch_ or _Deutsch_
+(German). The Romans called them _Germanes_, from the boastful title of
+"the warlike," or "the men of war," which the first invading tribes had
+given themselves. These _Germanes_ 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.
+
+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.
+
+The Germans next meet us in Caesar'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 _eclat_ of such an exploit, than with the hope 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+The Danes, Swedes, and Norwegians, are probably the most Germanic
+nations of continental Europe.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 Caesar's time, the
+Germans had succeeded in making permanent settlements, and in the
+northeast, where the Burgundians had well-nigh extirpated and
+completely supplanted the Gallic natives.[90] But everywhere else,[91]
+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.[92]
+
+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 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, _a superiority which was most striking in
+the lowest ranks_. 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.
+
+In this rapid and necessarily imperfect sketch, I have endeavored to
+show the relative proportion of the Teutonic 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 chaste people; they respected woman,[93] and assigned to her
+her legitimate place in the social circle. Marriage with them was a
+sacred institution.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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
+_their_ 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.
+
+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.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+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
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[90] 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--_patois_.
+
+[91] With the exception of Normandy.
+
+[92] See p. 183.
+
+[93] 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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+CIVILIZATION.
+
+ Mr. Guizot's and Mr. W. von Humboldt's definitions examined. Its
+ elements.
+
+
+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: _civilization_. 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
+_European_ 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.
+
+Mr. Guizot, in his _History of Civilization in Modern Europe_, 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
+_fact_.
+
+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 _a fact_; it is a _series_, a _concatenation
+of facts_, 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.
+
+Let it not be understood that I esteem governmental forms of little
+importance. Their choice 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.
+
+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.[94]
+
+"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 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?"
+
+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 Lacedaemonians, 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 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 in the case of Genoa, Pisa, Venice,
+and others, when compared with countries like Milan, Naples, or Rome?
+
+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."
+
+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.
+
+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
+_degree_ 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 as truly civilized,
+in the past as well as the present, none but the single English
+nation.[95]
+
+I sincerely respect and admire that great people, whose victories,
+industry, and universal commerce have left no portion of our globe
+ignorant of its puissance and the prodigies it has 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 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 _la belle France_. 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 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.
+
+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."[96]
+
+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 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 _culture_, and by which he declares that
+nations gain, above their gentle manners, "_science and the arts_."[97]
+When the world shall have arrived at this higher state, it will be
+peopled by _affectionate_ and _sympathetic_ 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.
+
+When we reflect upon the limited leisure that 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 _finished_ man (_der Gebildete_); 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."[98]
+
+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 _finished_, the _perfect_ 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
+Goethe, 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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+Leaving those races whose progressive tendency is not sufficiently
+vigorous to enable them to extend their influence over great
+multitudes,[99] we come to those of a higher order, in whom this
+tendency is so vigorous that they are capable of 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 _civilization_. 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 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.[100]
+
+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 _speculative_ or
+_utilitarian_.[101] As I have before observed, these terms imply neither
+praise nor blame. I use them merely for convenience, to designate the
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+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.
+
+I now proceed to the examination of other points also deserving of
+notice.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[94] Hazlitt's translation, vol. i. p 21. New York, 1855.--H.
+
+[95] 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 "_History
+of Civilization in Europe_," from which, I think, it will appear that
+few of the great truths comprised in the definition of _civilization_
+have escaped the penetration and research of the illustrious writer, but
+that, being unable to divest himself of the idea of _unity_ 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 (_e. g._, 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."
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Mr. Guizot opens his first lecture by declaring his intention of giving
+a "general survey of the history of _European civilization_, of its
+_origin_, its _progress_, its _end_, its _character_. 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 _a civilization essentially
+European_."
+
+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.
+
+"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."
+
+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:--
+
+"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."
+
+"_Notwithstanding the gravest imperfections in the social system_," 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 _not_, he virtually makes a political form the test of
+civilization.
+
+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."
+
+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.
+
+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."
+
+Secondly, Mr. Guizot's _beau-ideal_ of the best, most perfect
+civilization, where the political forms insure the greatest happiness,
+promote the most rapid--yet well-regulated--progress.
+
+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."
+
+Fourthly, a supposed general progress of the whole human race toward a
+higher state of perfection.
+
+To all these ideas, provided they are not confounded one with another, I
+have already given my assent. (See _Introduction_, p. 51.) 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.
+
+[96] W. Von Humboldt, _Ueber die Kawi-Sprache auf der Insel Java;
+Einleitung_, vol. i. p. 37. Berlin. "Die _Civilization_ ist die
+Vermenschlichung der Voelker in ihren aeusseren Einrichtungen und
+Gebraeuchen, und der darauf Bezug habenden inneren Gesinnung."
+
+[97] William Von Humboldt. "Die Kultur fuegt dieser Veredlung des
+gesellschaftlichen Zustandes Wissenschaft und Kunst hinzu."
+
+[98] W. Von Humboldt, _op. cit._, p. 37: "Wenn wir in unserer Sprache
+_Bildung_ sagen, so meinen wir damit etwas zugleich Hoeheres und mehr
+Innerlicheres, naemlich die Sinnesart, die sich aus der Erkenntniss und
+dem Gefuehle des gesammten geistigen und sittlichen Streben harmonish auf
+die Empfindung und den Charakter ergiesst."
+
+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 _all_ 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: "L'homme forme, c'est-a-dire, l'homme qui,
+dans sa nature, possede quelque chose de plus haut, de plus intime a la
+fois, c'est-a-dire, une facon de comprendre qui repand harmonieusement
+sur la sensibilite et le charactere les impressions qu'elle recoit de
+l'activite intellectuelle et morale dans son ensemble." I have taken
+great pains to express clearly Mr. Von Humboldt's idea, and have
+therefore amplified the word _Sinnesart_, which has not its precise
+equivalent in English.--TRANS.
+
+[99] See page 154.
+
+[100] Mr. Klemm (_Allgemeine Culturgeschichte der Menschheit_, Leipzig,
+1849) adopts, also, a division of all races into two categories, which
+he calls respectively the _active_ and the _passive_. 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.
+
+[101] 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.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+ELEMENTS OF CIVILIZATION--CONTINUED.
+
+ 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.
+
+
+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 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.[102] 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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
+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.
+
+I believe myself now prepared to express my idea of a civilization, by
+defining it as
+
+_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._
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 this to the action of the sun, for the Piedmontese
+live in a much warmer climate than the Provencals and the inhabitants of
+the Languedoc; it is the effect of blood.
+
+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.
+
+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 each
+contributed their part, and which the practical vigor of our Germanic
+ancestors, succeeded in blending into a more or less harmonious whole.
+
+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.[103]
+
+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 may call the spirit or
+genius of our progressive movement?
+
+To arrive at a true and unbiassed solution of this question, let us
+examine other civilizations, different from ours, and then institute a
+comparison.
+
+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 Aeschylus 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.[104]
+
+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.[105] All might not participate in it to the same
+extent, but all participated in it and in no other.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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;[106] 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 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.[107] The 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.[108] The instinct of the masses is decidedly averse to
+all political convulsions. Mr. Davis, who 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."[109]
+
+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 self-preservation of such a state of
+society. It was not only the armies, with their swarm of _improvisto_
+Caesars, 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.[110] 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.
+
+Between these two great societies, then, the Roman empire, and that of
+China, we perceive the 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.
+
+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.
+
+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,[111] and how they differ in their tendencies and modes
+of thinking. I 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 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
+_patois_[112] 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 our
+civilization. This is a startling assertion, but I have not yet adduced
+all the proofs in support of it.
+
+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.
+
+There are, however, portions of the country to which this picture does
+not apply; and these exceptions 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.
+
+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 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 _bourgeois_; that
+impassable barrier between him and even the most popular and
+well-intentioned landed proprietor of his district.
+
+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 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.[113] In speaking of their 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 which we attach to the same word.[114] 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 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.[115]
+
+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,[116] have never taken any other part but that 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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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 _furthest_ 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.
+
+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 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 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.
+
+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 Philae, of Nineveh, of Athens,
+of Salsetta, or of Tenochtitlan. A remote posterity 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.[117]
+
+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.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+Before concluding this digression upon civilization, 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[102] See a quotation from De Tocqueville to the same effect, p. 77.
+
+[103] 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.
+
+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 _also an
+insurrection of the great German race against an alien domination_. 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." (_Hist. of England_, vol. i. p. 53.)--H.
+
+[104] 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.
+
+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.
+
+[105] 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.
+
+[106] 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 JIN-TSOUNG, 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 _Pauthier's Histoire de la Chine_.)--H.
+
+[107] John F. Davis, _The Chinese_. 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."
+
+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.
+
+[108] 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 _Huc's Trav. in China_, 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.
+
+[109] Op. cit., p. 100.
+
+[110] The reader will remember that DIOCLETIAN, 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
+MAXIMIAN, A. D. 286. After six years of this joint reign, they took two
+other partners, GALERIUS and CONSTANTIUS. 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.
+
+[111] 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.
+
+[112] 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.
+
+[113] 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 _patois_, 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
+_patois_, 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 _Aves_ 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.
+
+[114] 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 _fier_."--(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.
+
+[115] 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 _pays Gallais_, 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 _foreigner_. Now, this _foreigner_ 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.
+
+[116] 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 Vendee, 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 _emeutes_ 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.
+
+[117] 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 _Thousand and One Nights_, 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 _mal-a-propos_, even in our
+colloquial language.
+
+In metaphysics, also, we have confessedly done little more than revive
+the labors of the Greeks.--H.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+QUESTION OF UNITY OR PLURALITY OF SPECIES.
+
+ 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.
+
+
+It will be necessary to determine first the physiological bearing of the
+word _race_.
+
+In the opinion of many scientific observers, who judge from the first
+impression, and take extremes[118] 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 _homo_, there would be three, four, or even
+more, entirely distinct ones, whose commingling would produce what the
+naturalists call _hybrids_.
+
+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:[119] the critic who examines
+this specimen of humanity, at once recognizes a well characterized and
+clearly defined type, the principal features of which will readily be
+imprinted in his memory.
+
+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
+_woolly_; 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 in a straight line with the other bones of
+the foot, which is remarkably broad."[120]
+
+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.
+
+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;[121] the disproportionate size of their
+heads; the excessive, 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.
+
+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.
+
+Such, indeed, was the conclusion arrived at by those who first
+systematized their observations, and attempted to establish a
+classification; and so far as this classification depended upon general
+facts, it seemed incontestable.
+
+_Camper_ 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,[122]
+Camper's own account of his method. "The basis on which the distinction
+of nations[123] is founded, says he, may be displayed by two straight
+lines; one of which is to be drawn through the _meatus auditorius_ (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 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 simiae 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."
+
+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 simiae. 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.
+
+The advocates of phrenological science eagerly espoused the theory of
+the Dutch _savant_. 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
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Camper's theory being refuted, _Blumenbach_ proposed another system. He
+called his invention _norma verticalis_, the vertical method. According
+to him,[124] 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 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."
+
+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.
+
+This classification, also, is liable to many objections. Like Camper's,
+it left out several important characteristics. _Owen_ 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 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 the adult chimpantsi, it is
+placed in the middle of the posterior third part of the basis
+cranii.[125]
+
+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.[126]
+
+The substance of this theory is, that individuals are superior in
+intellect in proportion as their skulls are larger.[127] 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.
+
+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 _foramen magnum_, he measured their capacity by
+filling them with well dried grains of pepper. The results of this
+measurement are exhibited in the subjoined table.[128]
+
+ -------------------------+-----------+----------+----------+----------
+ | Number | | |
+ | of skulls | Average | Maximum. | Minimum.
+ | measured. | capacity.| |
+ -------------------------|-----------|----------|----------|----------
+ White races | 52 | 87 | 109 | 75
+ Yellow races {Mongolians| 10 | 83 | 93 | 69
+ {Malays | 18 | 81 | 89 | 64
+ Copper-colored races | 147 | 82 | 100 | 60
+ Negroes | 29 | 78 | 94 | 65
+ -------------------------+-----------+----------+----------+----------
+
+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.[129] But 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, 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 _must_ be four subdivisions of the human species,
+corresponding to these variations of light. He perceives in this a
+symbol,[130] 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?
+
+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 regularly the
+whole of the physiological diversities observable in races.[131]
+
+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.
+
+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 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.[132] 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.[133]
+
+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.
+
+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. The Amsterdam _savant_,
+starting from the idea that the formation of the pelvis necessarily
+influences that of the foetus, concludes that there must be difference
+of origin.[134]
+
+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.
+
+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 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.[135] There are in the
+world many mountain populations who are constituted very differently
+from the Quichuas.[136]
+
+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.
+
+With regard to the specific differences in the formation of the pile,
+Mr. Flourens brings his great authority in favor of the original unity
+of race.[137]
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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,[138] 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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[118] M. Flourens, _Eloge de Blumenbach, Memoires de l'Academie des
+Sciences_. Paris, 1847, p. xiii. This _savant_ justly protests against
+such a method.
+
+[119] For the description of types in this and other portions of this
+chapter, I am indebted to
+
+M. WILLIAM LAWRENCE, _Lect. on the Nat. Hist. of Man_. London, 1844. But
+especially to the learned
+
+JAMES COWLES PRICHARD, _Nat. Hist. of Man_. London, 1848.
+
+[120] Prichard, _op. cit._, p. 129.
+
+[121] It is impossible to conceive an idea of the scarce human form of
+these creatures, without the aid of pictorial representations. In
+Prichard's _Natural History of Man_ 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.
+
+[122] _Op. cit._, p. 111.
+
+[123] It will be observed that Prichard and Camper, and further on
+Blumenbach, here use the word _nation_ as synonymous to _race_. See my
+introduction, p. 65.--H.
+
+[124] Prichard, _op. cit._, p. 115.
+
+[125] _Op. cit._, p. 117.
+
+[126] Carus, _Ueber ungleiche Befaehigung_, etc., p. 19.
+
+[127] _Op. cit._, p. 20.
+
+[128] 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.--H.
+
+[129] 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 _from_ Europe to
+India, and probably civilization with it.
+
+I have looked in vain for twenty years for evidence to prove that
+cultivation could enlarge a _brain_, while it expands the mind. The head
+of a boy at twelve is as large as it ever is.--N.
+
+[130] Carus, _op. cit._, p. 12.
+
+[131] 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 _Madonna_ of Rubens, in the museum of
+Dresden, in the _Satyrs_ and _Nymphs_ of the same collection, in a
+_Lute-player_ of Mieris, etc. No cranioscopic method whatever could
+embrace such details, which, however, are not without value in the great
+mixture of races which Europe presents.
+
+[132] Prichard, _op. cit._, p. 329.
+
+[133] 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: "De nigredine Aethiopum hic agere nostri non
+est instituti, plerique ardoribus solis atquae zonae torridae 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 Persae aut Syri, veluti pramontorii Bonae Spei
+habitantes, et tamen iste sunt nigerrimi. Si Africae tantum et Chami
+posteris id inspectari velis, Malabares et Ceilonii aliique remotiores
+Asiae populi aeque nigri excipiendi erunt. Quod si causam ad coeli
+solique naturam referas, non homines albi in illis regionibus
+renascentes non nigrescunt? Aut qui ad occultas qualitates confugiunt,
+melius fecerint si sese nescire fateantur."--JOBUS LUDOLFUS,
+_Commentarium ad Historiam Aethiopicam_, fol. Norimb. p. 56.
+
+[134] Prichard, _op. cit._, p. 124.
+
+[135] Prichard, _op. cit._, p. 433.
+
+[136] 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.
+
+[137] 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
+_wool_, 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.
+
+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 _Introduction
+to Hamilton Smith's Natural History of Man_, 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. _Hence,
+the hair of the white man will not felt, that of the negro will._ In
+this respect, therefore, it comes near to true wool"--pp. 88, 89.--H.
+
+[138] A full answer to this objection will be found in our Appendix,
+under _B_.--N.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+PERMANENCY OF TYPES.
+
+ 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.
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+The Bible evidently speaks of Adam as the 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?
+
+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 intimate that their
+authority might, perhaps, be questioned without transgressing the limits
+established by the church.[139] 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.
+
+The specific identity of all canines is acknowledged,[140] 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 as each type
+remains pure, their distinctive features are permanent, and reproduced,
+without any sensible deviation, in each successive generation.[141]
+
+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.
+
+Each race is convinced that its progenitor had precisely the
+characteristics which now distinguish 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.[142]
+
+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
+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 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.
+
+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.[143]
+
+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.
+
+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 in some portions of Roussillon, Languedoc, and Spain.
+
+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 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.[144]
+
+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.[145]
+
+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 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.
+
+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, 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, _Yu-Kiao-li_, 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.[146]
+
+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 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.[147]
+
+I do not, however, wish to attack Mr. Prichard upon all points. There is
+one of his conclusions which I readily adopt, viz.: "_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_."[148] This conclusion is very well founded,
+and I shall not 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.
+
+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.
+
+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[149] has removed
+beyond doubt the conclusions previously formed from the figured
+monuments of Persepolis, viz.: that the present Assyrian nations are
+physiologically identical with those who formerly inhabited the same
+regions.
+
+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.
+
+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 _has_ 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.[150] As an evidence of this, they justly cite the Cinghalese, who
+have blue eyes and light hair;[151] 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,[152] 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 of Germany. This fact cannot be adduced as evidence either in
+favor of, or against, the permanence of types.
+
+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 between
+them, and consequently we see them--though inhabiting the same
+country--as distinct at this day as at the time of the conquest."[153]
+
+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.
+
+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,[154] their Orghuse ancestors,
+who descended 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.[155] 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.[156] 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 pure Mongolian blood.
+Thus, notwithstanding the dicta of philology, I think serious doubts
+might be raised on that point.[157]
+
+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 greatly mixed with the races that had
+embraced Islamism. We see from the example of Ghaiased-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.
+
+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, 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.[158] They were composed entirely of Christian
+children captured in Poland, Germany, Italy, or the Bizantine 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.
+
+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 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[159] that, on one occasion, the handsomest female captive was
+bartered for _one boot_. 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.
+
+"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, to all the collateral branches of the
+Finnic stock, it follows that they have undergone an enormous
+transformation."[160]
+
+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[161] mixed but
+little with surrounding 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 Gerando[162] 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 _white Huns_. Among them the Germanic blood predominated.[163]
+It is true, that the close contact 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 _white Huns_, and of Germanic
+origin, though slightly mixed with the Mongolian stock.
+
+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;[164] 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,[165] whence sprang that 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.[166] Thus, whichever side we 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 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.
+
+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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[139] For the arguments which may be deduced from the language of Holy
+Writ, in favor of plurality of origins, see Appendix _C_.--H.
+
+[140] Among others, FREDERIC CUVIER, _Annales du Museum_, vol. xi. p.
+458.
+
+[141] 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.
+
+[142] 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.
+
+[143] 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.
+
+[144] Mueller, _Handbuch der Physiologie des Menschen_, vol. ii. p. 639.
+
+[145] Prichard, _op. cit._, pp. 484, 485.
+
+[146] An exception, however, must be made in the case of Shakspeare,
+while painting on an Italian canvas. In _Romeo and Juliet_, Capulet
+says:--
+
+ "My child is yet a stranger in the world,
+ She hath not seen the change of fourteen years;
+ Let two more summers wither in their pride,
+ Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride."
+
+To which Paris answers:--
+
+ "Younger than she are happy mothers made."
+
+[147] According to M. Krapff, a Protestant minister in Eastern Africa,
+among the Wanikos both sexes marry at the age of twelve. (_Zeitschrift
+der deutschen morgenlaendischen Gesellschaft_, 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. (A. D'ORBIGNY, _L'Homme
+Americain_, 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. (MARTIUS and SPIX, _Reise in Brasilien_, vol.
+i. p. 382.) I might increase the number of similar quotations
+indefinitely.
+
+[148] Prichard, _op. cit._, p. 486.
+
+[149] Botta, _Monumens de Ninive_. Paris, 1850.
+
+[150] _Edinburgh Review_, "Ethnology, or the Science of Races," Oct.
+1844, p. 144, _et passim_. "There is probably no evidence of original
+diversity of race which is so generally and unhesitatingly relied upon
+as that derived from the _color of the skin_ and the _character of the
+hair_; ... 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.)
+
+[151] _Ibid._, _loc. cit._, 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."
+
+[152] _Ibid._, _loc. cit._ "The Samoiedes, Tungusians, and others living
+on the borders of the Icy Sea, have a dirty-brown or swarthy
+complexion."
+
+[153] Edinburgh Review, p. 439.
+
+[154] Hammer, _Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches_, vol. i. p. 2.
+(_History of the Ottoman Empire._)
+
+[155] Ritter, _Erdkunde Asien_, vol. i. p. 433, et passim, p. 1115,
+etc. Lassen, _Zeitschrift fuer die Kunde des Morgenlandes_, vol. ii. p.
+65. Benfey, _Encyclopaedie_, by Ersch and Gruber, _Indien_, p. 12.
+Alexander Von Humboldt, speaking of this fact, styles it one of the most
+important discoveries of our times. (_Asie Centrale_, vol. ii. p. 649.)
+With regard to its bearings upon historical science, nothing can be more
+true.
+
+[156] 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,
+_Zeitschr. f. d. K. des Morgenl._, vol. i. p. 187.) This is by no means
+an isolated instance; Schahnameh furnishes a number of similar ones.
+
+[157] 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 _M. John de Beaumont_, 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 _savant_ 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." (_Asie Centrale_, vol. i. p. 248, and note.)
+
+[158] 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 _imperial fifth_
+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.
+
+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, _to carrie them tenderly_; 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." (_Purchas's
+Pilgrims_, vol. iii. p. 441.)
+
+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 _odas_ or
+regiments; and here their military education commenced.--H.
+
+[159] _Erdkunde, Asien_, vol. i. p. 448.
+
+[160] _Ethnology_, 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."
+
+[161] 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.
+
+[162] _Essai Historique sur l'Origine des Hongrois._ Paris, 1844.
+
+[163] 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 (~cherchis~) concubine spoken of by the former
+writer as a present of the Turkish chief Dithubul 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
+_Asie Centrale_, vol. i. p. 237, _et passim_, and vol. ii. pp. 130,
+131.)
+
+[164] Schaffarick, _Slawische Alterthuemer_, vol. i. p. 279, _et passim_.
+
+[165] Aug. Thierry, _Histoire de la Conquite de l'Angleterre_. Paris,
+1846, vol. i. p. 155.
+
+[166] In my introductory note to Chapters VIII. and IX. (see p. 244), 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.
+
+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. _Each of these races has preserved, in the
+new, as in the old world, the shades that constitute its national
+physiognomy_; 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 Fe,
+Quito, and Buenos Ayres, we still recognize the features that belong to
+the race of the first settlers."--_Personal Narrative_, Eng. Trans.,
+vol. i. p. 395.--H.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+CLASSIFICATION OF RACES.
+
+ 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.
+
+
+ [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 wide abyss which
+ separates _hypotheses_ from _facts_. 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.
+
+ The legitimate field of human science is the investigation of the
+ laws _now_ 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 _permanent_; that there are no causes _now in
+ operation_, 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 _means_.--H.]
+
+In the investigation of the moral and intellectual diversities of races,
+there is no difficulty so great as an accurate classification. I am
+disposed 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 for
+not recognizing the American Indians as a separate variety, and for
+classing them among the yellow races.[167]
+
+It is obvious that each of these groups comprises races very dissimilar
+among themselves, each of which, besides the general characteristics
+belonging to the whole group, possesses others peculiar to itself. Thus,
+in the group of black races we find marked distinctions: the tribes
+with 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.
+
+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.
+
+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, 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.
+
+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.
+
+I imagine it possible, therefore, that a "secondary" type may in time
+assume all the characteristics of a "primary" one, viz: resemblance of
+the 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.
+
+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 _tertiary_ 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 the black and the yellow.[168]
+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.
+
+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, 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.
+
+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 _native_ 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 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.
+
+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 _De l'Esprit_, 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 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.[169] Taking
+the white 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.[170]
+
+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.[171] It is necessary, however, to
+distinguish 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.
+
+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.
+
+In muscular power, the English rank far above 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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[167] 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 _unity of origin_. (The words _Japhetic_ and _Shemitic_
+are also employed in a sense somewhat different from that which common
+usage has assigned them.)
+
+
+ THE SHEMITIC SPECIES.
+
+ _Psychical or Spiritual Character_, viz:--
+ All the Physical Attributes developed harmoniously.--Warlike, but
+ not cruel, or destructive.
+
+ _Temperament._--Strenuous.
+
+ _Physical Character_, viz:--
+ 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.
+
+ VARIETIES.
+
+ The Israelites, Greeks, Romans, Teutones, Sclavons, Celts, &c., and
+ many sub-varieties.
+
+
+ THE JAPHETIC SPECIES.
+
+ _Psychical or Spiritual Character_, viz:
+ Attributes unequally developed. Moderately mental--originative,
+ inventive, but not speculative. Not warlike, but destructive.
+
+ _Temperament._--Passive.
+
+ _Physical Character_, viz:--
+ 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.
+
+
+ VARIETIES.
+
+ The Chinese, Mongolians, Japanese, Chin Indians, &c., and probably
+ the Esquimaux, Toltecs, Aztecs, Peruvians.
+
+
+ THE ISHMAELITIC SPECIES.
+
+ _Psychical or Spiritual Character_, viz:--
+ Attributes generally equally developed. Moderately mental; not
+ originative, or inventive, but speculative; roving, predatory,
+ revengeful, and sensual. Warlike and highly destructive.
+
+ _Temperament._--Callous.
+
+ _Physical Character._--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.
+
+
+ VARIETIES.
+
+ Most of the Tartar and Arabian tribes, and the whole of the American
+ Indians, unless those mentioned in the second species should be
+ excepted.
+
+
+ THE CANAANITIC SPECIES.
+
+ _Psychical or Spiritual Character_, viz:--
+ Attributes equally undeveloped. Inferiorly mental; not originative,
+ inventive, or speculative; roving, revengeful, predatory, and highly
+ sensual; warlike and destructive.
+
+ _Temperament._--Sluggish.
+
+ _Physical Character._--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.
+
+
+ VARIETIES.
+
+ The Negroes of Central Africa, Hottentots, Cafirs, Australasian
+ Negroes, &c.; and probably the Malays, &c.
+
+ _Nat. Hist. of Man_, p. 73 _et passim_.
+
+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.
+
+[168] It is probably a typographical error, that makes Mr. Flourens
+(_Eloge de Blumenbach_, p. 11) say that the Polynesian race was "a
+mixture of two others, the _Caucasian_ and the Mongolian." The Black and
+the Mongolian is undoubtedly what the learned Academician wished to say.
+
+[169] 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 p. 371, _note_) 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." (_Op. cit._, 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?" (_Ibid._, pp. 41 and
+42.)--H.
+
+[170] 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 _radical_ difference among races.--H.
+
+[171] Upon the aborigines of America, consult Martius and Spix, _Reise
+in Brasilien_, vol. i. p. 259; upon the negroes, Pruner, _Der Neger,
+eine aphoristische Skizze aus der medicinischen Topographie von Cairo_.
+In regard to the superiority in muscular vigor over all other races, see
+Carus, _Ueber ungl. Bef._, p. 84.
+
+
+
+
+NOTE TO THE PRECEDING CHAPTER.
+
+ The position and treatment of woman among the various races of men a
+ proof of their moral and intellectual diversity.
+
+
+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.
+
+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 _polygamy has always prevailed, among others
+never_. 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 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."
+
+With the writer from whom I have already made copious extracts, I
+believe that the _moral and intellectual diversity_ 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 _result_, not a _cause_. It is said that all barbarians
+treat their women as slaves; but, as they progress in civilization,
+woman gradually rises to her legitimate rank.
+
+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 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 _influence of woman must have
+been anterior to any improvements of the original condition of man_.
+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."
+
+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 _any_ 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.
+
+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., 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 Caesar dealt with realities, not idealities; he was a shrewd,
+practical statesman, and an able general; yet Caesar _did_ take females
+as hostages from the German tribes, in preference to men. Suppose Caesar
+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.
+
+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,[172] which yet never
+resulted 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 _Fou_, more than twenty
+centuries before.
+
+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.
+
+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 ancestry--have been found by
+thousands ready to sacrifice the comforts and quiet of home for the
+horrors of a hospital.[173] 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[172] 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 _retrograding_.
+No Chinese workman can now make porcelain equal to that of former ages,
+which consequently bears an exorbitant price as an object of _virtu_.
+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 _cause_ of their stagnation: it is the _sign_ 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.
+
+[173] 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?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+PERFECTIBILITY OF MAN.
+
+ 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.
+
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+It may be said, that in all the departments of science we possess
+clearer and more correct notions; 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.
+
+These lofty pretensions will hardly bear the test of severe historical
+criticism.
+
+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 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?
+
+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 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?
+
+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 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[174] we are,
+undoubtedly, much in advance of our predecessors; but criticism implies
+classification, not acquisition.
+
+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 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.[175] The Athenian people propitiating their servile class
+after the battle of Arginuses, might be taken for a picture of the
+nineteenth century.
+
+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 praedial
+population, always eager for change, and ready to rise in actual
+rebellion.
+
+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 crying for bread, greedy of shows, flattery, gratuitous
+distributions, and amusements; the middle classes (_bourgeoisie_)
+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?
+
+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 _Progressist_ party. By
+the side of Sylla, Pompey and Cicero were Radicals.[176] Their notions
+were not sufficiently radical for Caesar; 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. 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 Caesar, C. Junius Posthumus, who
+exclaims: "Dives et pauper, inimici," the rich and the poor are enemies
+born.
+
+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.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+And as a last touch, to complete the picture, let 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."
+
+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
+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: "_Nil novi sub sole._"[177]
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+The art of printing is known to many other nations beside ourselves, and
+is as extensively used by them as by us.[178] Let us see its fruits. In
+Tonquin, 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[179]--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?
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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; 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 _heirs_ 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
+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.
+
+Every civilization has produced in those who enjoyed its fruits, a firm
+conviction of its stability, its perpetuity.
+
+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, 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?
+
+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
+the whole of its domain:[180] 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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[174] The word _criticism_ 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 _the art of
+discriminating between truth and error_, or rather, perhaps, between
+_the probable and the improbable_. 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.
+
+[175] It will be remembered that Mr. Gobineau speaks of Europe.--H.
+
+[176] 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 _root_.--H.
+
+[177] 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.
+
+[178] M. J. Mohl, _Rapport Annuel a la Societe Asiatique_, 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."
+
+[179] 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, _Erdkunde, Asien_, vol. iii. p. 1152.)
+
+[180] No individual can encompass the whole circle of human knowledge:
+no civilization comprise at once all the improvements possible to
+humanity.--H.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+MUTUAL RELATIONS OF DIFFERENT MODES OF INTELLECTUAL CULTURE.
+
+ 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.
+
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+Thus all the nations of the earth would have 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.
+
+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. 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.
+
+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. 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.
+
+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 conquerors, and will continue to live while
+their brethren in the vicinity of the Anglo-Saxon race are inevitably
+doomed to perish.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+The same may be said of the mechanical arts. 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.
+
+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 proved by the disappearance of the
+aborigines of North America and Polynesia.
+
+I shall now speak of the relations arising from the contact of different
+civilizations.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 prosopopoeia, representing the gods as
+sentient 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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 Achaemenes, 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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[181] and
+our own.
+
+There was a time when the arts and sciences, the muses and their train,
+seemed to have forsaken 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.
+
+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.[182]
+
+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.
+
+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. 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.[183] 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[184] 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 sovereign;[185] one of their cities had become,
+under Zenobia, the centre and capital of a vast empire that rivalled and
+even threatened Rome.[186]
+
+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[187] 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.
+
+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.[188]
+The religious dogma of the Koreishite prophet was a skilful compromise
+between the various contending 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.[189] 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.
+
+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[190] and Egyptian, its administration from the
+beginning tolerant like that of every body politic that embraces many
+heterogeneous elements.
+
+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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 to its formation, it is suited to none that have _not_
+contributed to it.
+
+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?
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[181] The word _Arab_ is here used instead of the more common, but less
+correct, term _Saracen_, 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.
+
+[182] 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.
+
+[183] 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.
+
+[184] _Philip_, an Arabian adventurer who was prefect of the praetorian
+guards under the third Gordian, and who, through his boldness and
+ability, succeeded that sovereign on the throne in A. D. 244.--H.
+
+[185] _Odenathus_, 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 _Caesar_, or coadjutor to
+the emperor by Gallienus, the son of Valerian, the captive
+sovereign.--H.
+
+[186] The history of _Zenobia_, 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.
+
+The famous Arabian queen was the widow of Odenathus, of Palmyra, who
+bequeathed to her his dignity as _Caesar_, 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.
+
+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.
+
+[187] 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.
+
+[188] 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.
+
+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.
+
+[189] 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.
+
+[190] W. Von Humboldt. _Ueber die Karo-Sprache, Einleitung_,
+p. 243. "Durch die Richtung auf diese Bildung und durch innere
+Stammes-verwandschaft wurden sie wirklich fuer griechischen Geist und
+griechische Sprache empfaenglich, da die Araber vorzugsweise nur an den
+wissenschaftlichen Resultaten griechischer Forschung hiengen."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE THREE GREAT VARIETIES.
+
+ 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.
+
+
+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,[191] 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.
+
+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.
+
+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 Bambarra has
+made very respectable progress in arithmetic.
+
+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.
+
+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, 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 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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[192] him; there is no flesh
+nor fowl too vile 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.
+
+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 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.[193] Under intense suffering, he exhibits a moral cowardice
+which readily seeks refuge in death, or in a sort of monstrous
+impassivity.[194]
+
+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.
+
+Having demonstrated the little intellectual and strongly sensual[195]
+character of the black variety, as the type of which I have taken the
+negro of Western Africa, I shall now proceed to examine the moral and
+intellectual characteristics of the second in the scale--the yellow.
+
+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 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 _summum bonum_ of their desires and aspirations
+is to pass smoothly and quietly through life.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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
+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 of corrosive vices,
+which opens before the friend of humanity on a closer study of these
+races.[196]
+
+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.
+
+ * * * * *
+
+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 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.
+
+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."
+
+The task is great--too great, perhaps, for any one's undertaking. Yet,
+on a more careful investigation, many of the apparently insuperable
+difficulties 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 _brought_ 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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[197] race. Its history is intimately
+associated with almost every effort on the part of man to develop his
+moral and intellectual powers.
+
+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 suns of the systems to which they belonged. At the head of my
+list I would place:--
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+4. The Greeks belonged to the same stock, but were modified by Shemitic
+elements, which, in course of time, totally transformed their character.
+
+5. China presents the precise counterpart of Egypt. The light of
+civilization was carried 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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+8, 9, 10. Under these heads I class the three civilizations of the
+western continent, the Alleghanian, the Mexican, and the Peruvians.
+
+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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[191] 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 _Annales des Sciences Naturelles_.
+
+[192] "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, _Op. cit._, vol. i. p. 133.)
+
+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 _hunger_ 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.
+
+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.
+
+[193] 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.
+
+[194] 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 _Nat. Hist.
+of Man_, a few remarks on this subject by Dr. Mosely, in his _Treatise
+on Tropical Diseases_: "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.
+
+[195] 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
+_Travels in South America_. 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.
+
+"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." (_Travels in
+Peru_, London, 1848, p. 110, _et passim_.)--H.
+
+[196] 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.
+
+[197] 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.
+
+The word "Arian" is derived from _Aryas_ or ~Arioi~, 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), _and the Germanic races_. 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 _Indo-Germanic_ 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 _carried to
+India from Europe_. 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.
+
+It is a familiar saying that _civilization travels westward_: if we
+believe ethnologists, the Arian races have _always migrated in that
+direction_--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.
+
+
+
+
+ APPENDIX.
+
+ BY J. C. NOTT, M. D.,
+
+ MOBILE, ALABAMA.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX.
+
+
+I have seldom perused a work which has afforded me so much pleasure and
+instruction as the one of Count Gobineau, "_Sur l'Inegalite des Races
+Humaines_," 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.
+
+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 _unity_
+of origin, he so fully establishes the _permanency_ of the actual moral,
+intellectual, and physical diversities of races as to leave no ground
+for antagonists to stand upon. Whatever _remote causes_ may be assigned,
+there is 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 _existing_ diversity of races as at
+least an _accomplished fact_, 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.
+
+Our author leans strongly towards a belief in the _original diversity_
+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
+_species_, and the laws of _hybridity_; he has been taught to believe
+that two distinct species cannot produce perfectly prolific offspring,
+and therefore concludes that all races of men _must_ be of one origin,
+because they are prolific _inter se_. My appendix will therefore be
+devoted mainly to this question of species.
+
+
+
+
+A.
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+
+_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._
+
+ -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+ | No. of | Largest | Smallest | |
+ RACES AND FAMILIES. | skulls.| internal | internal | Mean.| Mean.
+ | | capacity.| capacity.| |
+ -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+ MODERN CAUCASIAN GROUP. | | | | |
+ TEUTONIC FAMILY | | | | |
+ Germans | 18 | 114 | 70 | 90 }
+ English | 5 | 105 | 91 | 96 } 92
+ Anglo-Americans | 7 | 97 | 82 | 90 }
+ PELASGIC FAMILY | | | | |
+ Persians } | | | |
+ Armenians } 10 | 94 | 75 | 84 |
+ Circassians } | | | |
+ CELTIC FAMILY | | | | |
+ Native Irish | 6 | 97 | 78 | 87 |
+ INDOSTANIC FAMILY | | | | |
+ Bengalees, &c. | 32 | 91 | 67 | 80 |
+ SHEMITIC FAMILY | | | | |
+ Arabs | 3 | 98 | 84 | 89 |
+ NILOTIC FAMILY | | | | |
+ Fellahs | 17 | 96 | 66 | 80 |
+ | | | | |
+ ANCIENT CAUCASIAN GROUP.| | | | |
+ PELASGIC FAMILY | | | | |
+ Greco-Egyptians | 18 | 97 | 74 | 88 |
+ (from Catacombs) | | | | |
+ NILOTIC FAMILY | | | | |
+ Egyptians | 55 | 96 | 68 | 80 |
+ (from Catacombs) | | | | |
+ | | | | |
+ MONGOLIAN GROUP. | | | | |
+ CHINESE FAMILY | 6 | 91 | 70 | 82 |
+ | | | | |
+ MALAY GROUP. | | | | |
+ MALAYAN FAMILY | 20 | 97 | 68 | 86 }
+ POLYNESIAN FAMILY | 8 | 84 | 82 | 83 } 85
+ | | | | |
+ AMERICAN GROUP. | | | | |
+ TOLTECAN FAMILY | | | | |
+ Peruvians | 155 | 101 | 58 | 75 }
+ Mexicans | 22 | 92 | 67 | 79 }
+ BARBAROUS TRIBES | | | | }
+ Iroquois } | | | } 79
+ Lenape } | | | }
+ Cherokee } 161 | 104 | 70 | 84 }
+ Shoshone, &c. } | | | |
+ | | | | |
+ NEGRO GROUP. | | | | |
+ NATIVE AFRICAN FAMILY | 62 | 99 | 65 | 83 }
+ AMERICAN-BORN NEGROES | 12 | 89 | 73 | 82 } 83
+ HOTTENTOT FAMILY | 3 | 83 | 68 | 75 |
+ ALFOREAN FAMILY | | | | |
+ Australians | 8 | 83 | 63 | 75 |
+ -----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+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 _Caucasian_ 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.
+
+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 _permanence_ 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.
+
+Again, in the negro group, while it is absolutely shown that certain
+African races, whether born in 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.
+
+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
+_intellectual_ lobes, which may serve to explain this apparent paradox.
+
+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 _17 cubic
+inches_ between the skulls of these types!
+
+Now, as far back as history and monuments carry us, as well as crania
+and other testimonies, these various types have been _permanent_; 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 _specific_ characters, then is
+the naturalist at sea without a compass to guide him.
+
+These facts determine clearly the arbitrary nature of all
+classifications heretofore adopted; the Teuton, the Jew, the Hindoo,
+the Egyptian, &c., have all been included under the term _Caucasian_;
+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.
+
+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 _horizontal periphery_. 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.
+
+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 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.
+
+ Size--inches. Circum. Circum. Relative
+ of head. of hat. prop. in 12.
+
+ 6-7/8 21-5/8 22-3/8 1
+ 7 22 22-3/4 2
+ 7-1/8 22-3/8 23-1/8 3
+ 7-1/4 22-3/4 23-1/2 3
+ 7-3/8 23-1/8 23-7/8 2
+ 7-1/2 23-1/2 24-1/4 1
+
+All hats larger than these are called "extra sizes."
+
+The average size, then, of the crania of white races in the United
+States, is about 22-1/2 inches circumference, including the hair and
+scalp, for which about 1-1/2 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.
+
+Dr. Morton's measurements of aboriginal American races, give a mean of
+but 19-1/2 inches; and this statement is greatly strengthened by the
+fact that the Mexicans and other Indian races wear much smaller hats
+than our white races. (See _Types of Mankind_, p. 289 and 453.)
+
+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.
+(_Types of Mankind_, p. 453.)
+
+Tiedemann adopted the vulgar error of grouping together under the term
+_Caucasian_, all the Indo-Germanic, Shemitic, and Nilotic races; also
+all the black and dark races of Africa under the term _Negro_. 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.
+
+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 gives the _internal capacity_ 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.
+
+_Internal Capacity of Brain in Cubic Inches._
+
+ RACES. Internal Internal
+ capacity. capacity.
+ Mean. Mean.
+ MODERN WHITE RACES--
+ Teutonic group 92 92
+ Pelasgic " 84 }
+ Celtic " 87 } 88
+ Shemitic " 89 }
+ ANCIENT PELASGIC 88
+ MALAYS 85 } 83-1/2
+ CHINESE 82 }
+ NEGROES (AFRICAN) 83 83
+ INDOSTANESE 80 }
+ FELLAHS (modern Egyptians) 80 } 80
+ EGYPTIANS (ancient) 80 }
+
+ AMERICAN GROUP--
+ Toltecan family 77 } 79
+ Barbarous tribes 84 }
+
+ HOTTENTOTS 75 } 75
+ AUSTRALIANS 75 }
+
+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.
+
+
+
+
+B.
+
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+The great difficulty in this discussion is, to define clearly what
+meaning should be attached to the term _species_; and to the
+illustration of this point, mainly, will our labors be confined.
+_Genera_ are, for the most part, well defined by _anatomical_
+characters, and little dispute exists respecting them; but no successful
+attempt has yet been made to designate _species_ in this way, and it is
+by their _permanency of type alone_, as ascertained from written or
+monumental records, that our decision can be guided.
+
+
+SPECIES.
+
+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.
+
+ "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
+ _species_."--CUVIER.
+
+ "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."--DE CANDOLLE.
+
+ "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."--MILNE
+ EDWARDS and ACHILLE COMPTE.
+
+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.
+
+ "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. _Varieties_ are either
+ accidental or the result of the care and culture of
+ man."[198]--MARTIN.
+
+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 "_fertile offspring by association_." In this
+definition the doctor _assumes_ one of the main points in dispute.
+
+ "_Varieties_," 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. * * *
+ "_Permanent varieties_ are such as, having once taken place, are
+ propagated in perpetuity, and do not change their characteristics
+ unless they breed with other varieties."
+
+We may remark that the existence of such _permanent varieties_ as here
+described is also in dispute.
+
+The same author continues:--
+
+ "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
+ _varieties_, such as are seen in domestic animals.' They are, to
+ examine the external and internal organization of the animal or
+ plant--they are, to compare it with kindred species, and if by
+ this examination they are found to possess _permanent characters
+ differing from those of other species, it proves itself to be a
+ distinct species_. 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 _knowledge of history_ no true species, but
+ _varieties_ only, whose origin can be _distinctly traced to
+ existing and well-known species_, 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 _can be shown_ 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."
+
+To all the positions thus far taken by Dr. Bachman, we most cheerfully
+subscribe; they are strictly scientific, and by such criteria 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, _whose origin can be distinctly traced to
+existing and well-known species_," 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.
+
+Now, if the reader will turn back and review carefully all the
+definitions of species cited, he will perceive that they are not based
+upon _anatomical characters_, but simply on the _permanency_ of certain
+organic forms, and that this permanence of form is determined by its
+_history_ alone.
+
+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 _one_ 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--_the monumental history of
+man_.
+
+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?
+
+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 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
+_distinct species_.
+
+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."
+
+Dr. Bachman objects very strongly to this definition, and declares it a
+"cunning device, and, to all intents, an _ex post facto_ 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 "_primordial_" by its
+permanency, as proved by history, and the other definitions assign no
+other test.
+
+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 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 _a study of its history_."[199]
+
+M. Jourdain, under the head "Espece," in his _Dictionnaire des Termes
+des Sciences Naturelles_, 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:--
+
+ "It is evident that we can, among organized bodies, regard as a
+ _species_ 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
+ _species_ is but a simple _abstraction of the mind_, 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."
+
+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.
+
+ "With all the contention about the question of what constitutes a
+ _species_, 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.
+
+ "According to the practical determination of a species by
+ naturalists, in a late number of the _Proceedings_ 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.'
+
+ "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 gypaetus, haliaetus, 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
+ haliaetus, 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, with differences of greater
+ value in the jaws of the negro and white man, he considers them
+ the same.
+
+ "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.
+
+ "PHILADELPHIA, _April 18, 1855_."
+
+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
+"_abundantly_" of each species.
+
+It must be clear to the reader, from the evidence above adduced, that
+Dr. Bachman claims far too much when he asserts that--
+
+ "Naturalists can be found, in Europe and America, who, without
+ any _vain boast_, 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."[200]
+
+And, again, when he says:--
+
+ "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."
+
+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.
+
+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 _Quadrupeds of America_, p. vii.,
+it is said:--
+
+ "Although _genera_ may be easily ascertained by the forms and
+ dental arrangements peculiar to each, many _species_ 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."
+
+Again, in speaking of the genus _vulpes_ (foxes), the same work says:--
+
+ "The characters of this genus differ so slightly from those of
+ the genus _canis_, 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 _admit that a large fox is a
+ wolf, and a small wolf may be termed a fox_. So inconveniently
+ large, however, is the list of species in the old genus _canis_,
+ that it is, we think, advisable to separate into distinct groups
+ such species as possess any characters different from true
+ wolves."
+
+Speaking of the origin of the domestic dog, Dr. Bachman, in his work on
+_Unity of Races_, p. 63, says:--
+
+ "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.
+
+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 _Jardin des Plantes_, 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.
+
+We repeat, then, that in a large number of _genera_, 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 canidae, equidae, 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 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 _Types of Mankind_)
+_gradation_ 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 _Equis Hemionus_, 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 Florae and Faunae.
+
+
+VARIETIES.
+
+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 _varieties_, 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--
+
+ "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, _after a
+ few generations_, lose their ferocity, assume all colors," &c.
+
+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.
+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.[201]
+
+Let us, on the other hand, "invite the advocates of _unity_ 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 _domesticated_, 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.
+
+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?
+
+We have also abundant authority to show that all wild species do not
+present the same uniformity in external characters.
+
+ "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."--AUDUBON & BACHMAN, 2d Amer. ed., vol. ii. pp. 130-1.
+
+Speaking of the white American wolf, the same authors say:--
+
+ "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 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."--_Op. cit._, p. 159.
+
+ "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."
+
+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.
+
+All this is independent of _domestication_, 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.
+
+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, 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.
+
+In fact the Dr. himself makes admissions which fully refute his whole
+theory.
+
+ "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."[202]
+
+The Dr. further admits, in the same work, that the races have been
+_permanent_ since the time of the old Egyptian empire, and _supposes_
+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.
+
+
+HYBRIDITY.
+
+Having shown the insufficiency of all the other arguments in
+establishing the landmarks of _species_, let us now turn to those based
+on _hybridity_, which seems to be the last stronghold of the unity
+party. On this 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.
+
+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 _infertile_, 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.
+
+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 _regular gradation_ 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:--
+
+1. That in which hybrids never reproduce; in other words, where the
+mixed progeny begins and ends with the first cross.
+
+2. That in which the hybrids are incapable of producing _inter se_, but
+multiply by union with the parent stock.
+
+3. That in which animals of unquestionably distinct species produce a
+progeny which are prolific _inter se_, but have a tendency to run out.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+The genus _Equus_ (Horse) comprises six species, of which three belong
+to Asia, and three to Africa. The Asiatic species are the _Equus
+Caballus_ (Horse), _Equus Hemionus_ (Dzigguetai), and _Equus Asinus_
+(Ass). Those of Africa are the _Equus Zebra_ (Zebra), _Equus Montanus_
+(Daw), and the _Equus Quaccha_ (Quagga). The horse and ass alone have
+been submitted to domestication from time immemorial; the others have
+remained wild.
+
+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:[203]--
+
+ "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."[204]
+
+At a meeting of the "Societe Zoologique d'Acclimation,"
+
+ M. Richard (du Cantal) "parle des essais de croisements de
+ l'hemione avec l'anesse, et dit qu'ils ont donne un mulet
+ beaucoup _plus ardent_ que l'ane. Il asserte que les produits de
+ l'hemione avec l'ane, sont feconds, et que le metis, nomme Polka,
+ a deja produit."
+
+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.
+
+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.[205] 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 _gour_, or wild ass,
+still roams the desert. The zebra has also been several times crossed
+with the horse.
+
+The genus _canis_ 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 _Equidae_, 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 found
+except that of absolute sterility which is seen in the offspring of the
+horse and ass.
+
+The following facts are given by M. Flourens, and are the result of his
+own observations at the _Jardin des Plantes_.
+
+ "The hybrids of the dog and wolf are sterile after the _third_
+ generation; those of the jackal and dog, are so after the
+ _fourth_.
+
+ "Moreover, if one of these hybrids is bred with one of the
+ primitive species, they soon return, completely and totally, to
+ this species.
+
+ "My experiments on the crossing of species have given me
+ opportunities of making a great many observations of this kind.
+
+ "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 _jackal_ predominates over that of
+ the _dog_.
+
+ "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.
+
+ "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.
+
+ "So much for the FIRST 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 _second generation_ does not
+ yet bark, but has already the ears pendent at the ends, and is
+ less savage. The hybrid of the third generation barks, has the
+ ears pendent, the tail turned up, and is no longer wild. The
+ hybrid of the _fourth generation_ is entirely a dog.
+
+ "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."[206]
+
+From the foregoing facts, M. Flourens deduces, without assigning a
+reason, the following _non sequitur_:--
+
+ "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."[207]
+
+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.
+
+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 _degrees_ 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 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.
+
+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 _degrees_ of
+hybridity of the dog with the wolf and jackal were before unknown. These
+experiments do not extend beyond one species of wolf.
+
+M. Flourens says:--
+
+ "_Les especes ne s'alterent point, ne changent point, ne passent
+ point de l'une a l'autre; les especes sont_ FIXES."
+
+ "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.
+
+ "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 _human mummies_--the skeleton of that day is identical
+ with that of the Egyptian of our day."
+
+(M. Flourens might have added that the mummies 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.)
+
+ "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
+ _made_. Species do not change."[208]
+
+_Permanence of type_, 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 _time_ 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 _inter se_, and there is every reason to
+believe that we here find the fourth and last degree of hybridity.
+Whether the prolificacy is _unlimited_ 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 _third_. The dog and jackal 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 _dark_-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.
+
+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.[209]
+
+We have already made some general observations on the _genus canis_,
+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 _permanency of type_, like the
+races of men, and all well-marked species, the doubt must be yielded.
+
+There are strong reasons given by Dr. Morton and other naturalists, for
+supposing that our common dogs, independent of mixtures of _their_
+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, _curs_ 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.
+
+In one chapter on hybridity in the "_Types of Mankind_," 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.
+
+In other parts of the world we find other species equally well marked,
+but we shall content ourselves with 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.[210] 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 _fossil_
+dogs, which long antedate all living species.
+
+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 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.
+
+The facts above stated cannot be questioned, and it is admitted that
+these species are all prolific without limit _inter se_.
+
+The llama affords another strong argument in favor of the fourth degree
+of hybridity. Cuvier admits but two species--the llama (_camelus
+llacma_), of which he regards the _alpaca_ as a variety, and the vigogne
+(_camelus vicunna_). More recent naturalists regard the alpaca as a
+distinct species, among whom is M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire.[211] At all
+events, it seems settled that they _all_ breed together without limit.
+
+ "A son tour, apres la vigogne, viendra bientot l'alpavigogne,
+ fruit du croisement de l'alpaca avec la vigogne. Don Francisco de
+ Theran, il ya quarante ans, et M. de Castelnau, avaient annonce
+ deja que ce metis est fecond, 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 recemment l'Academie des
+ Sciences a meme de voir et d'admirer cette admirable toison. Il a
+ confirme en meme temps un fait que n'avait trouve que des
+ incredules parmi les naturalists--la fecondite de
+ l'alpaca-vigogne: l'abbe Cabrera, cure de la petite ville de
+ Macusani, a obtenu une race qui se perpetue et dont il possede
+ deja tout un troupeau. C'est, donc, pour ainsi dire, une
+ nouvelle espece creee par l'homme; et si paradoxal qu' ait pu
+ sembler ce resultat, il est, fort heureusement pour l'industrie,
+ _definitivement acquis a la science_.
+
+ "Ce resultat n'aurait rien de paradoxal, si l'alpaca n'etait,
+ comme l'ont pense plusieurs auteurs, qu'une race domestique et
+ tres modifiee de la vigogne. Cette objection contre le pretendu
+ principe de l'infecondite des mulets ne serait d'ailleurs levee
+ que pour faire place a une autre; _l'alpa-llama_ serait alors un
+ mulet, issu de deux especes distincts, et l'alpa-llama est fecond
+ comme l'alpa-vigogne."[212]
+
+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.
+
+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.
+
+Martin, the author of the work on "_Man and Monkeys_," is certainly good
+authority. He says:--
+
+ "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."[213]
+
+He goes on to quote Col. Sykes, and others, for other varieties of
+greyhound in the east, unlike any in Europe.
+
+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:--
+
+ "The paintings on the walls represent a vast variety of subjects;
+ including, most unexpectedly, the greater part of the _arts_ and
+ _trades_ practised among civilized nations at the present day;
+ also birds, quadrupeds, fishes, and insects, amounting to an
+ _extended treatise on zoology_, well deserving the attention of
+ naturalists. The date accompanying these representations has
+ been astronomically determined by Biot, at about B. C. 2200
+ (Champollion-Figeac, _Egyp. Arc._); and Lepsius's chronological
+ computation corresponds."[214]
+
+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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[198] Natural History of Man and Monkeys.
+
+[199] Fauna and Flora within Living Animals, p. 9.
+
+[200] Doctrine of the Unity of the Human Race, p. 10.
+
+[201] 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.
+
+[202] _Op. cit._, p. 177.
+
+[203] _Domestication et Naturalization des Animaux utiles_, par M.
+Isadore Geoffroy St. Hilaire, p. 71, Paris, 1854.
+
+[204] Ibid.
+
+[205] Columbia, p. 135.
+
+[206] _De la Longevite Humaine_, &c., par P. Flourens, Paris, 1855.
+
+[207] 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.
+
+[208] _Op. cit._
+
+[209] _Op. cit._, p. 122.
+
+[210] 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.
+
+[211] _Op. cit._, p. 29. 1854.
+
+[212] _Op. cit._, p. 101.
+
+[213] _Op. cit._, p. 53.
+
+[214] _Geographical Dist._, p. 17.
+
+This work, I believe, is not yet issued, but Dr. Pickering has kindly
+sent me the first 150 pages, as printed.
+
+
+
+
+C.
+
+
+Mr. Gobineau remarks (p. 367), 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."
+
+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 (p. 339) that the authority 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.
+
+ "The strict rule of scientific scrutiny," says the most learned
+ and formidable opponent in the adversary's camp,[215] "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
+ _abstract our minds from all considerations not derived from the
+ matters of fact which bear immediately on the question_. The
+ maxim we have to follow in such controversies is 'fiat justitia,
+ ruat coelum.' _In fact, what is actually true, it is always
+ desirous to know, whatever consequences may arise from its
+ admission._"
+
+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
+_biblical_ 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 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 _natural
+history of man_--it has now, for the first time, a fair hearing before
+Christendom, and all any question should ask is "_daylight and fair
+play_."
+
+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.
+
+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 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.
+
+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 _unity_ 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.
+
+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.
+
+On the other hand, the first chapter of Genesis gives an account
+entirely in accordance with the teachings of science.
+
+ "And God said, let the earth bring forth _grass_, 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." _Gen._ i.
+ 11.
+
+ "And God said, let the waters bring forth _abundantly_, the moving
+ creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in
+ the open firmament of heaven." v. 20.
+
+ "And God created great _whales_, and every living creature that
+ moveth, which the waters brought forth _abundantly_," &c. v. 21.
+
+ "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.
+
+ "God created _man_ in his own image; _male_ and _female_ created
+ he _them_."
+
+In the language above quoted, nothing is said about one seed or one
+blade of grass; about one fruit tree, or about _single pairs_ of animals
+or human beings. On the contrary, this chapter closes with the distinct
+impression on the mind that everything was created _abundantly_. 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 _male and female_, 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 that the
+inspired writers possessed no knowledge of physical sciences, and as
+little respecting the natural history of man, as of any other
+department.
+
+Their _moral_ 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.
+
+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
+_Pentateuch_ 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.
+
+This idea of a future state does not distinctly appear in the Jewish
+writings until after their return from the Babylonish captivity.
+
+The extent of the surface of the globe, known even to the writers of the
+New Testament, formed but a 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.[216]
+
+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 of the human family, and that we can
+rely no more upon its ethnography than upon its geography, astronomy,
+cosmogony, geology, zoology, &c.
+
+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.
+
+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 _unity_; 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
+_one blood_ 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 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 _blood_ is an interpolation, and
+not to be found in the original texts. The word _blood_ 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:--
+
+ "And hath made of _one_ all races (genus) of men," &c.
+
+The word _blood_ is a gloss, and we have just as much right to
+interpolate _one form_, _one substance_, _one nature_, _one
+responsibility_, or anything else, as _blood_.
+
+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.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[215] Prichard, _Nat. Hist. of Man_, p. 8. London, 1843.
+
+[216] See "_Types of Mankind_," by Nott and Gliddon.
+
+
+
+
+ +-------------------------------------------------------------+
+ |Transcriber's note: |
+ | |
+ | Inconsistent use of law-giver vs. lawgiver was made |
+ | consistent as "law-giver". |
+ | |
+ | Page 476: Corrected typographical error "criterea". |
+ | |
+ | Footnote 39: Placement of quotation marks has been |
+ | made consistent. |
+ | |
+ | Footnote 59: Added missing closing quotation mark "...'When|
+ | three of us are together, the Triad is among us.'" |
+ | |
+ | Footnote 85: I believe the editor meant "page 187". |
+ | |
+ | Footnote 195: Added dash to sign-off "--H." to conform to |
+ | other footnotes. |
+ | |
+ | All other inconsistencies, variant spellings, and a large |
+ | number of mis-quoted references have been preserved. |
+ +-------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
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