,,the ,,inequality ,,of ,,human ,,races ,,the ,,renaissance ,by ,,arthur1 ,,count ,,gobineau4 ,with an ,introductory ,essay on ,count ,gobineau's ,life-,work by ,dr4 ,oscar ,levy4 ,one ,vol41 ,demy #hvo1 ,illustrated #ajs net ,,the ,,young ,,nietzsche ,by ,,frau ,f,,rster ,,nietzsche4 ,one ,volume1 ,demy #hvo1 ,price #aes net ,,the ,,lonely ,,nietzsche ,by ,,frau ,f,,rster ,,nietzsche4 ,one ,volume1 ,royal #hvo1 ,price #aes net ,,nietzsche ,by ,,george ,,brandes ,one ,volume1 ,demy #hvo1 #fs net ,,london3 ,,william ,,heinemann ,,the ,,inequality ,,of ,,human ,,races ,,by ,,arthur ,,de ,,gobineau ,,translated ,,by ,,adrian ,,collins1 ,m4,a4 ,,introduction ,,by ,,dr4 ,,oscar ,,levy1 ,,editor ,,of ,,the ,,authorised ,,english ,,version ,,of ,,nietzsche',s ,,works ,illustration ,,william ,,heinemann ,,london ,,mcmxv ,london ,william ,heinemann #aiae ,,contents ,,chap4 ,,page ,,introduction vii ,,from ,,the ,,author',s ,,dedication xi ,,author',s ,,preface xv ,i4 ,,the ,,mortal ,,disease ,,of ,,civilizations ,,and ,,societies ,,proceeds ,,from ,,general ,,causes ,,common ,,to ,,them ,,all #a ,,ii4 ,,fanaticism1 ,,luxury1 ,,corruption ,,of ,,morals1 ,,and ,,irreligion ,,do ,,not ,,necessarily ,,lead ,,to ,,the ,,fall ,,of ,,societies #g ,,iii4 ,,the ,,relative ,,merit ,,of ,,governments ,,has ,,no ,,influence ,,on ,,the ,,length ,,of ,a ,,nation',s ,,life #ai ,,iv4 ,,the ,,meaning ,,of ,,the ,,word 8,,degeneration02 ,,the ,,mixture ,,of ,,racial ,,elements2 ,,how ,,societies ,,are ,,formed ,,and ,,broken ,,up #bc ,v4 ,,racial ,,inequality ,,is ,,not ,,the ,,result ,,of ,,institutions #cf ,,vi4 ,,nations1 ,,whether ,,progressing ,,or ,,stagnating ,,are ,,independent ,,of ,,the ,,regions ,,in ,,which ,,they ,,live #ed ,,vii4 ,,christianity ,,neither ,,creates ,,nor ,,changes ,,the ,,capacity ,,for ,,civilization #fc ,,viii4 ,,definition ,,of ,,the ,,word 8,,civilization02 ,,social ,,development ,,has ,a ,,twofold ,,origin #gg ,,ix4 ,,definition ,,of ,,the ,,word 8,,civilization0 7continued72 ,,different ,,characteristics ,,of ,,civilized ,,societies2 ,,our ,,civilization ,,is ,,not ,,superior ,,to ,,those ,,which ,,have ,,gone ,,before #hi ,x4 ,,some ,,anthropologists ,,regard ,,man ,,as ,,having ,a ,,multiple ,,origin #ajf ,,xi4 ,,racial ,,differences ,,are ,,permanent #aag ,,xii4 ,,how ,,the ,,races ,,were ,,physiologically ,,separated1 ,,and ,,the ,,different ,,varieties ,,formed ,,by ,,their ,,inter-,,mixture4 ,,they ,,are ,,unequal ,,in ,,strength ,,and ,,beauty #ada ,,xiii4 ,,the ,,human ,,races ,,are ,,intellectually ,,unequal2 ,,mankind ,,is ,,not ,,capable ,,of ,,infinite ,,progress #aed ,,xiv4 ,,proof ,,of ,,the ,,intellectual ,,inequality ,,of ,,races 7continued74 ,,different ,,civilizations ,,are ,,mutually ,,repulsive2 ,,hybrid ,,races ,,have ,,equally ,,hybrid ,,civilizations #afh ,,xv4 ,,the ,,different ,,languages ,,are ,,unequal1 ,,and ,,correspond ,,perfectly ,,in ,,relative ,,merit ,,to ,,the ,,races ,,that ,,use ,,them #ahb ,,xvi4 ,,recapitulation2 ,,the ,,respective ,,characteristics ,,of ,,the ,,three ,,great ,,races2 ,,the ,,superiority ,,of ,,the ,,white ,,type1 ,,and1 ,,within ,,this ,,type1 ,,of ,,the ,,aryan ,,family #bje ,,introduction ,,to ,,gobineau',s 8,,inequality ,,of ,,human ,,races0 ,though many people have accused this age of irreligion1 there is at least one point of similarity between modern ,europe and that pre-,christian ,era to which our present religion is due4 ,just as in ancient ,palestine1 there are living amongst us two kinds of prophets--the prophets of evil and disaster1 and those of bliss1 or1 as ,europe likes to call it1 of 8progress40 ,as in ,palestine of old the public usually sides with the lighter1 the optimistic1 the more comfortable sort of people1 with the prophets of bliss1 while ,time and ,fate invariably decide in favour of the sterner and gloomier individuals1 the prophets of evil4 ,in the world to-day as well as in ,palestine of old1 the prophets of bliss are the false prophets2 the prophets of evil1 to-day as of yore1 are the true ones4 ,such a true prophet was ,count ,arthur de ,gobineau4 ,even his friends--those few friends whom he gained at the end of his life--still thought him unduly pessimistic4 ,old ,wagner1 who introduced him to the ,german public1 thought of brightening his gloom by a little ,christian faith1 hope1 and charity1 in order to make the pill more palatable to that great public1 which he1 the great ,stage-manager1 knew so well4 ,other ,germans--,chamberlain1 ,schemann1 and the ,gobineau school--poured a great deal of water into his wine1 sweetened it with patriotic syrups1 adulterated it with their own pleasant inventions1 which were all too readily swallowed by a gullible and credulous generation4 ,but stern old ,gobineau knew the world better than his young and cheerful offspring4 ,he had seen through all that boisterous gaiety of the age1 all its breathless labour1 all its technical advancement1 all its materialistic progress1 and had diagnosed1 behind it that muddle of moral values which our forefathers have bequeathed to us and which in our generation has only become a greater muddle still4 ,the catastrophe which ,gobineau had prophesied to an ,aristocracy which had forgotten its tradition1 to a ,democracy which had no root in reality1 to a ,christianity which he thought entirely inefficient1 is now upon us4 ,under the stress of the present misfortunes1 we frequently hear that all our previous opinions need revision1 that we have to forget many things and to learn afresh still more1 that we must try to build up our civilization on a safer basis1 that we must reconsider and reconstruct the values received from former ages4 ,it is therefore our duty1 ,i think1 to turn back to those prophets who accused our forefathers of being on the road to destruction1 all the more so as these prophets were likewise true poets who tried as such to point out the right road1 endeavouring to remedy1 as far as their insight went1 the evil of their time4 ,this is the best1 and ,i trust a perfectly satisfactory1 reason for the translation of 8,the ,inequality of ,human ,races40 ,this book1 written as early as #ahec1 is no doubt a youthful and somewhat bewildering performance1 but it gives us the basis of ,gobineau's creed1 his belief in ,race and ,aristocracy as the first condition of civilization1 his disbelief in the influence of environment1 his distrust in the efficacy of religion and morality4 ,the latter kind of scepticism brings him into relationship with ,nietzsche1 who has even accentuated ,count ,gobineau's suspicions and who has branded our morality as ,slave-,morality1 and consequently as harmful to good government4 ,what a ,europe without ,masters1 but with plenty of ,half-masters and ,slaves1 was driving at1 ,gobineau foresaw as well as ,nietzsche4 ,i sincerely hope that no intelligent reader will overlook this sceptical attitude of ,gobineau towards religion1 because that is a point of great importance at the present time1 when our faith will certainly thrive again on a misfortune1 which1 by the propagation of slave-values1 it indirectly has caused4 ,it is this scepticism against the ,church and its ,semitic values1 which separates a ,gobineau from ,disraeli1 to whom otherwise--in his rejection of ,buckle1 ,darwin1 and their science1 in his praise of ,race and ,aristocracy1 and in his prophecy of evil--he is so nearly related4 ,disraeli still believed in a ,church based upon a revival of the old principles1 ,gobineau1 like ,nietzsche1 had no hope whatever in this respect4 ,it is the great merit of both ,nietzsche and ,gobineau1 that they were not1 like ,disraeli1 trying to revive a corpse1 but that they frankly acknowledged1 the one that the corpse was dead1 the other that it was positively poisoning the air4 ,the occasional bows which ,gobineau makes to the ,church cannot1 ,i repeat1 mislead any serious critics of his work1 especially if they likewise consult his later books1 about which1 by the way1 ,i have spoken at greater length elsewhere4#a ,both ,spinoza and ,montaigne had the same laudable habit1 and they did not mean it either4 ,for the first business of a great freethinker is not to be mistaken for a little one2 his greatest misfortune is to be 8understood0 by the wrong class of people1 and thus an occasional bow to the old and venerable ,power--apart from the safety which it procures--protects him from an offensive handshake with enthusiastic and unbalanced disciples and apostles4 ,,oscar ,,levy ,,geneva1 ,july #aiae ,,from ,,the ,,author',s ,,dedication 7#ahed7b ,,to ,,his ,,majesty ,,george ,v1 ,,king ,,of ,,hanover ,the great events--the bloody wars1 the revolutions1 and the breaking up of laws--which have been rife for so many years in the ,states of ,europe1 are apt to turn men's minds to the study of political problems4 ,while the vulgar consider merely immediate results1 and heap all their praise and blame on the little electric spark that marks the contact with their own interests1 the more serious thinker will seek to discover the hidden causes of these terrible upheavals4 ,he will descend1 lamp in hand1 by the obscure paths of philosophy and history2 and in the analysis of the human heart or the careful search among the annals of the past he will try to gain the master-key to the enigma which has so long baffled the imagination of man4 ,like every one else1 ,i have felt all the prickings of curiosity to which our restless modern world gives rise4 ,but when ,i tried to study1 as completely as ,i could1 the forces underlying this world1 ,i found the horizon of my inquiry growing wider and wider4 ,i had to push further and further into the past1 and1 forced by analogy almost in spite of myself1 to lift my eyes further and further into the future4 ,it seemed that ,i should aspire to know not merely the immediate causes of the plagues that are supposed to chasten us1 but also to trace the more remote reasons for those social evils which the most meagre knowledge of history will show to have prevailed1 in exactly the same form1 among all the nations that ever lived1 as well as those which survive to-day--evils that in all likelihood will exist among nations yet unborn4 ,further1 the present age1 ,i thought1 offered peculiar facilities for such an inquiry4 ,while its very restlessness urges us on to a kind of historical chemistry1 it also makes our labours easier4 ,the thick mists1 the profound darkness that from time immemorial veiled the beginnings of civilizations different from our own1 now lift and dissolve under the sun of science4 ,an analytic method of marvellous delicacy has made a ,rome1 unknown to ,livy1 rise before us under the hands of ,niebuhr1 and has unravelled for us the truths that lay hid among the legendary tales of early ,greece4 ,in another quarter of the world1 the ,germanic peoples1 so long misunderstood1 appear to us now as great and majestic as they were thought barbarous by the writers of the ,later ,empire4 ,egypt opens its subterranean tombs1 translates its hieroglyphs1 and reveals the age of its pyramids4 ,assyria lays bare its palaces with their endless inscriptions1 which had till yesterday been buried beneath their own ruins4 ,the ,iran of ,zoroaster has held no secrets from the searching eyes of ,burnouf1 and the ,vedas of early ,india take us back to events not far from the dawn of creation4 ,from all these conquests together1 so important in themselves1 we gain a larger and truer understanding of ,homer1 ,herodotus1 and especially of the first chapters of the ,bible1 that deep well of truth1 whose riches we can only begin to appreciate when we go down into it with a fully enlightened mind4 ,these sudden and unexpected discoveries are naturally not always beyond the reach of criticism4 ,they are far from giving us complete lists of dynasties1 or an unbroken sequence of reigns and events4 ,in spite1 however1 of the fragmentary nature of their results1 many of them are admirable for my present purpose1 and far more fruitful than the most accurate chronological tables would be4 ,i welcome1 most of all1 the revelation of manners and customs1 of the very portraits and costumes1 of vanished peoples4 ,we know the condition of their art4 ,their whole life1 public and private1 physical and moral1 is unrolled before us1 and it becomes possible to reconstruct1 with the aid of the most authentic materials1 that which constitutes the personality of races and mainly determines their value4 ,with such a treasury of knowledge1 new or newly understood1 to draw upon1 no one can claim any longer to explain the complicated play of social forces1 the causes of the rise and decay of nations1 in the light of the purely abstract and hypothetical arguments supplied by a sceptical philosophy4 ,since we have now an abundance of positive facts crowding upon us from all sides1 rising from every sepulchre1 and lying ready to every seeker's hand1 we may no longer1 like the theorists of the ,revolution1 form a collection of imaginary beings out of clouds1 and amuse ourselves by moving these chimeras about like marionettes1 in a political environment manufactured to suit them4 ,the reality is now too pressing1 too well known2 and it forbids games like these1 which are always unseasonable1 and sometimes impious4 ,there is only one tribunal competent to decide rationally upon the general characteristics of man1 and that is history--a severe judge1 ,i confess1 and one to whom we may well fear to appeal in an age so wretched as our own4 ,not that the past is itself without stain4 ,it includes everything1 and so may well have many faults1 and more than one shameful dereliction of duty1 to confess4 ,the men of to-day might even be justified in flourishing in its face some new merits of their own4 ,but suppose1 as an answer to their charges1 that the past suddenly called up the gigantic shades of the heroic ages1 what would they say then8 ,if it reproached them with having compromised the names of religious faith1 political honour1 and moral duty1 what would they answer8 ,if it told them that they are no longer fit for anything but to work out the knowledge of which the principles had already been recognized and laid down by itself2 that the virtue of the ancients has become a laughing-stock1 that energy has passed from man to steam1 that the light of poetry is out1 that its great prophets are no more1 and that what men call their interests are confined to the most pitiful tasks of daily life2--how could they defend themselves8 ,they could merely reply that not every beautiful thing is dead which has been swallowed up in silence2 it may be only sleeping4 ,all ages1 they might say1 have beheld periods of transition1 when life grapples with suffering and in the end arises victorious and splendid4 ,just as ,chalda in its dotage was succeeded by the young and vigorous ,persia1 tottering ,greece by virile ,rome1 and the degenerate rule of ,augustulus by the kingdoms of the noble ,teutonic princes1 so the races of modern times will regain their lost youth4 ,this was a hope ,i myself cherished for a brief moment1 and ,i should like to have at once flung back in the teeth of ,history its accusations and gloomy forebodings1 had ,i not been suddenly struck with the devastating thought1 that in my hurry ,i was putting forward something that was absolutely without proof4 ,i began to look about for proofs1 and so1 in my sympathy for the living1 was more and more driven to plumb to their depths the secrets of the dead4 ,then1 passing from one induction to another1 ,i was gradually penetrated by the conviction that the racial question overshadows all other problems of history1 that it holds the key to them all1 and that the inequality of the races from whose fusion a people is formed is enough to explain the whole course of its destiny4 ,every one must have had some inkling of this colossal truth1 for every one must have seen how certain agglomerations of men have descended on some country1 and utterly transformed its way of life2 how they have shown themselves able to strike out a new vein of activity where1 before their coming1 all had been sunk in torpor4 ,thus1 to take an example1 a new era of power was opened for ,great ,britain by the ,anglo-,saxon invasion1 thanks to a decree of ,providence1 which by sending to this island some of the peoples governed by the sword of your ,majesty's illustrious ancestors1 was to bring two branches of the same nation under the sceptre of a single house--a house that can trace its glorious title to the dim sources of the heroic nation itself4 ,recognizing that both strong and weak races exist1 ,i preferred to examine the former1 to analyse their qualities1 and especially to follow them back to their origins4 ,by this method ,i convinced myself at last that everything great1 noble1 and fruitful in the works of man on this earth1 in science1 art1 and civilization1 derives from a single starting-point1 is the development of a single germ and the result of a single thought2 it belongs to one family alone1 the different branches of which have reigned in all the civilized countries of the universe4 ,,the ,,inequality ,,of ,,human ,,races ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,mortal ,,disease ,,of ,,civilizations ,,and ,,societies ,,proceeds ,,from ,,general ,,causes ,,common ,,to ,,them ,,all ,the fall of civilizations is the most striking1 and1 at the same time1 the most obscure1 of all the phenomena of history4 ,it is a calamity that strikes fear into the soul1 and yet has always something so mysterious and so vast in reserve1 that the thinker is never weary of looking at it1 of studying it1 of groping for its secrets4 ,no doubt the birth and growth of peoples offer a very remarkable subject for the observer2 the successive development of societies1 their gains1 their conquests1 their triumphs1 have something that vividly takes the imagination and holds it captive4 ,but all these events1 however great one may think them1 seem to be easy of explanation2 one accepts them as the mere outcome of the intellectual gifts of man4 ,once we recognize these gifts1 we are not astonished at their results2 they explain1 by the bare fact of their existence1 the great stream of being whose source they are4 ,so1 on this score1 there need be no difficulty or hesitation4 ,but when we see that after a time of strength and glory all human societies come to their decline and fall--all1 ,i say1 not this or that2 when we see in what awful silence the earth shows us1 scattered on its surface1 the wrecks of the civilizations that have preceded our own--not merely the famous civilizations1 but also many others1 of which we know nothing but the names1 and some1 that lie as skeletons of stone in deep world-old forests1 and have not left us even this shadow of a memory2 when the mind returns to our modern ,states1 reflects on their extreme youth1 and confesses that they are a growth of yesterday1 and that some of them are already toppling to their fall3 then at last we recognize1 not without a certain philosophic shudder1 that the words of the prophets on the instability of mortal things apply with the same rigour to civilizations as to peoples1 to peoples as to ,states1 to ,states as to individuals2 and we are forced to affirm that every assemblage of men1 however ingenious the network of social relations that protects it1 acquires on the very day of its birth1 hidden among the elements of its life1 the seed of an inevitable death4 ,but what is this seed1 this principle of death8 ,is it uniform1 as its results are1 and do all civilizations perish from the same cause8 ,at first sight we are tempted to answer in the negative2 for we have seen the fall of many empires1 ,assyria1 ,egypt1 ,greece1 ,rome1 amid the clash of events that had no likeness one to the other4 ,yet1 if we pierce below the surface1 we soon find that this very necessity of coming to an end1 that weighs imperiously on all societies without exception1 presupposes such a general cause1 which1 though hidden1 cannot be explained away4 ,when we start from this fixed principle of natural death--a principle unaffected by all the cases of violent death1--we see that all civilizations1 after they have lasted some time1 betray to the observer some little symptoms of uneasiness1 which are difficult to define1 but not less difficult to deny2 these are of a like nature in all times and all places4 ,we may admit one obvious point of difference between the fall of ,states and that of civilizations1 when we see the same kind of culture sometimes persisting in a country under foreign rule and weathering every storm of calamity1 at other times being destroyed or changed by the slightest breath of a contrary wind2 but we are1 in the end1 more and more driven to the idea that the principle of death which can be seen at the base of all societies is not only inherent in their life1 but also uniform and the same for all4 ,to the elucidation of this great fact ,i have devoted the studies of which ,i here give the results4 ,we moderns are the first to have recognized that every assemblage of men1 together with the kind of culture it produces1 is doomed to perish4 ,former ages did not believe this4 ,among the early ,asiatics1 the religious consciousness1 moved by the spectacle of great political catastrophes1 as if by some apparition from another world1 attributed them to the anger of heaven smiting a nation for its sins2 they were1 it was thought1 a chastisement meet to bring to repentance the criminals yet unpunished4 ,the ,jews1 misinterpreting the meaning of the ,covenant1 supposed that their ,empire would never come to an end4 ,rome1 at the very moment when she was nearing the precipice1 did not doubt that her own empire was eternal4#c ,but the knowledge of later generations has increased with experience2 and just as no one doubts of the mortal state of humanity1 because all the men who preceded us are dead1 so we firmly believe that the days of peoples are numbered1 however great the number may be2 for all those who held dominion before us have now fallen out of the race4 ,the wisdom of the ancients yields little that throws light on our subject1 except one fundamental axiom1 the recognition of the finger of ,god in the conduct of this world2 to this firm and ultimate principle we must adhere1 accepting it in the full sense in which it is understood by the ,catholic ,church4 ,it is certain that no civilization falls to the ground unless ,god wills it2 and when we apply to the mortal state of all societies the sacred formula used by the ancient priesthoods to explain some striking catastrophes1 which they wrongly considered as isolated facts1 we are asserting a truth of the first importance1 which should govern the search for all the truths of this world4 ,add1 if you will1 that all societies perish because they are sinful--and ,i will agree with you2 this merely sets up a true parallel to the case of individuals1 finding in sin the germ of destruction4 ,in this regard1 there is no objection to saying that human societies share the fate of their members2 they contract the stain from them1 and come to a like end4 ,this is to reason merely by the light of nature4 ,but when we have once admitted and pondered these two truths1 we shall find no further help1 ,i repeat1 in the wisdom of the ancients4 ,that wisdom tells us nothing definite as to the ways in which the ,divine will moves in order to compass the death of peoples2 it is1 on the contrary1 driven to consider these ways as essentially mysterious4 ,it is seized with a pious terror at the sight of ruins1 and admits too easily that the fallen peoples could not have been thus shaken1 struck down1 and hurled into the gulf1 except by the aid of miracles4 ,i can readily believe that certain events have had a miraculous element1 so far as this is stated by ,scripture2 but where1 as is usually the case1 the formal testimony of ,scripture is wanting1 we may legitimately hold the ancient opinion to be incomplete and unenlightened4 ,we may1 in fact1 take the opposite view1 and recognize that the heavy hand of ,god is laid without ceasing on our societies1 as the effect of a decision pronounced before the rise of the first people2 and that the blow falls according to rule and foreknowledge1 by virtue of fixed edicts1 inscribed in the code of the universe by the side of other laws which1 in their rigid severity1 govern organic and inorganic nature alike4 ,we may justly reproach the philosophy of the early sacred writers with a lack of experience2 and so1 we may say1 they explain a mystery merely by enunciating a theological truth which1 however certain1 is itself another mystery4 ,they have not pushed their inquiries so far as to observe the facts of the natural world4 ,but at least one cannot accuse them of misunderstanding the greatness of the problem and scratching for solutions at the surface of the ground4 ,in fact1 they have been content to state the question in lofty language2 and if they have not solved it1 or even thrown light upon it1 at least they have not made it a breeder of errors4 ,this puts them far above the rationalistic schools and all their works4 ,the great minds of ,athens and ,rome formulated the theory1 accepted by later ages1 that ,states1 civilizations1 and peoples1 are destroyed only by luxury1 effeminacy1 misgovernment1 fanaticism1 and the corruption of morals4 ,these causes1 taken singly or together1 were declared to be responsible for the fall of human societies2 the natural corollary being that in the absence of these causes there can be no solvent whatever4 ,the final conclusion is that societies1 more fortunate than men1 die only a violent death2 and if a nation can be imagined as escaping the destructive forces ,i have mentioned1 there is no reason why it should not last as long as the earth itself4 ,when the ancients invented this theory1 they did not see where it was leading them2 they regarded it merely as a buttress for their ethical notions1 to establish which was1 as we know1 the sole aim of their historical method4 ,in their narrative of events1 they were so taken up with the idea of bringing out the admirable influence of virtue1 and the deplorable effects of vice and crime1 that anything which marred the harmony of this excellent moral picture had little interest for them1 and so was generally forgotten or set aside4 ,this method was not only false and petty1 but also had very often a different result from that intended by its authors2 for it applied the terms 8virtue0 and 8vice0 in an arbitrary way1 as the needs of the moment dictated4 ,yet1 to a certain extent1 the theory is excused by the stern and noble sentiment that lay at the base of it2 and if the genius of ,plutarch and ,tacitus has built mere romances and libels on this foundation1 at any rate the libels are generous1 and the romances sublime4 ,i wish ,i could show myself as indulgent to the use that the authors of the eighteenth century have made of the theory4 ,but there is too great a difference between their masters and themselves4 ,the former had even a quixotic devotion to the maintenance of the social order2 the latter were eager for novelty and furiously bent on destruction4 ,the ancients made their false ideas bear a noble progeny2 the moderns have produced only monstrous abortions4 ,their theory has furnished them with arms against all principles of government1 which they have reproached in turn with tyranny1 fanaticism1 and corruption4 ,the ,voltairean way of 8preventing the ruin of society0 is to destroy religion1 law1 industry1 and commerce1 under the pretext that religion is another name for fanaticism1 law for despotism1 industry and commerce for luxury and corruption4 ,where so many errors reign1 ,i certainly agree that we have 8bad government40 ,i have not the least desire to write a polemic2 my object is merely to show how an idea common to ,thucydides and the ,abb ,raynal can produce quite opposite results4 ,it makes for conservatism in the one1 for an anarchic cynicism in the other--and is an error in both4 ,the causes usually given for the fall of nations are not necessarily the real causes2 and though ,i willingly admit that they may come to the surface in the death-agony of a people1 ,i deny that they have enough power1 enough destructive energy1 to draw on1 by themselves1 the irremediable catastrophe4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,fanaticism1 ,,luxury1 ,,corruption ,,of ,,morals1 ,,and ,,irreligion ,,do ,,not ,,necessarily ,,lead ,,to ,,the ,,fall ,,of ,,societies ,i must first explain what ,i understand by a 8society40 ,i do not mean the more or less extended sphere within which1 in some form or other1 a distinct sovereignty is exercised4 ,the ,athenian democracy is not a 8society0 in our sense1 any more than the ,kingdom of ,magadha1 the empire of ,pontus1 or the ,caliphate of ,egypt in the time of the ,fatimites4 ,they are fragments of societies1 which1 no doubt1 change1 coalesce1 or break up according to the natural laws that ,i am investigating2 but their existence or death does not imply the existence or death of a society4 ,their formation is usually a mere transitory phenomenon1 having but a limited or indirect influence on the civilization in which they arise4 ,what ,i mean by a 8society0 is an assemblage of men moved by similar ideas and the same instincts2 their political unity may be more or less imperfect1 but their social unity must be complete4 ,thus ,egypt1 ,assyria1 ,greece1 ,india1 and ,china were1 or still are1 the theatre where distinct and separate societies have played out their own destinies1 save when these have been brought for a time into conjunction by political troubles4 ,as ,i shall speak of the parts only when my argument applies to the whole1 ,i shall use the words 8nation0 or 8people0 either in the wide or the narrow sense1 without any room for ambiguity4 ,i return now to my main subject1 which is to show that fanaticism1 luxury1 corruption of morals1 and irreligion do not necessarily bring about the ruin of nations4 ,all these phenomena have been found in a highly developed state1 either in isolation or together1 among peoples which were actually the better for them--or at any rate not the worse4 ,the ,aztec ,empire in ,america seems to have existed mainly 8for the greater glory0 of fanaticism4 ,i cannot imagine anything more fanatical than a society like that of the ,aztecs1 which rested on a religious foundation1 continually watered by the blood of human sacrifice4 ,it has been denied1#d perhaps with some truth1 that the ancient peoples of ,europe ever practised ritual murder on victims who were regarded as innocent1 with the exception of shipwrecked sailors and prisoners of war4 ,but for the ancient ,mexicans one victim was as good as another4 ,with a ferocity recognized by a modern physiologist#e as characteristic of the races of the ,new ,world1 they massacred their fellow-citizens on their altars1 without pity1 without flinching1 and without discrimination4 ,this did not prevent their being a powerful1 industrious1 and wealthy people1 which would certainly for many ages have gone on flourishing1 reigning1 and throat-cutting1 had not the genius of ,hernando ,cortes and the courage of his companions stepped in to put an end to the monstrous existence of such an ,empire4 ,thus fanaticism does not cause the fall of ,states4 ,luxury and effeminacy have no better claims than fanaticism4 ,their effects are to be seen only in the upper classes2 and though they assumed different forms in the ancient world1 among the ,greeks1 the ,persians1 and the ,romans1 ,i doubt whether they were ever brought to a greater pitch of refinement than at the present day1 in ,france1 ,germany1 ,england1 and ,russia--especially in the last two4 ,and it is just these two1 ,england and ,russia1 that1 of all the ,states of modern ,europe1 seem to be gifted with a peculiar vitality4 ,again1 in the ,middle ,ages1 the ,venetians1 the ,genoese1 and the ,pisans crowded their shops with the treasures of the whole world2 they displayed them in their palaces1 and carried them over every sea4 ,but they were certainly none the weaker for that4 ,thus luxury and effeminacy are in no way the necessary causes of weakness and ruin4 ,again1 the corruption of morals1 however terrible a scourge it may be1 is not always an agent of destruction4 ,if it were1 the military power and commercial prosperity of a nation would have to vary directly with the purity of its morals2 but this is by no means the case4 ,the curious idea that the early ,romans had all the virtues#f has now been rightly given up by most people4 ,we no longer see anything very edifying in the patricians of the early ,republic1 who treated their wives like slaves1 their children like cattle1 and their creditors like wild beasts4 ,if there were still any advocates to plead their unrighteous cause by arguing from an assumed 8variation in the moral standard of different ages10 it would not be very hard to show how flimsy such an argument is4 ,in all ages the misuse of power has excited equal indignation4 ,if the rape of ,lucrece did not bring about the expulsion of the kings1 if the tribunate#g was not established owing to the attempt of ,appius ,claudius1 at any rate the real causes that lay behind these two great revolutions1 by cloaking themselves under such pretexts1 reveal the state of public morality at the time4 ,no1 we cannot account for the greater vigour of all early peoples by alleging their greater virtue4 ,from the beginning of history1 there has been no human society1 however small1 that has not contained the germ of every vice4 ,and yet1 however burdened with this load of depravity1 the nations seem to march on very comfortably1 and often1 in fact1 to owe their greatness to their detestable customs4 ,the ,spartans enjoyed a long life and the admiration of men merely owing to their laws1 which were those of a robber-state4 ,was the fall of the ,phnicians due to the corruption that gnawed their vitals and was disseminated by them over the whole world8 ,not at all2 on the contrary1 this corruption was the main instrument of their power and glory4 ,from the day when they first touched the shores of the ,greek islands1#h and went their way1 cheating their customers1 robbing their hosts1 abducting women for the slave-market1 stealing in one place to sell in another--from that day1 it is true1 their reputation fell not unreasonably low2 but they did not prosper any the less for that1 and they hold a place in history which is quite unaffected by all the stories of their greed and treachery4 ,far from admitting the superior moral character of early societies1 ,i have no doubt that nations1 as they grow older and so draw nearer their fall1 present a far more satisfactory appearance from the censor's point of view4 ,customs become less rigid1 rough edges become softened1 the path of life is made easier1 the rights existing between man and man have had time to become better defined and understood1 and so the theories of social justice have reached1 little by little1 a higher degree of delicacy4 ,at the time when the ,greeks overthrew the ,empire of ,darius1 or when the ,goths entered ,rome1 there were probably far more honest men in ,athens1 ,babylon1 and the imperial city than in the glorious days of ,harmodius1 ,cyrus the ,great1 and ,valerius ,publicola4 ,we need not go back to those distant epochs1 but may judge them by ourselves4 ,paris is certainly one of the places on this earth where civilization has touched its highest point1 and where the contrast with primitive ages is most marked2 and yet you will find a large number of religious and learned people admitting that in no place and time were there so many examples of practical virtue1 of sincere piety1 of saintly lives governed by a fine sense of duty1 as are to be met to-day in the great modern city4 ,the ideals of goodness are as high now as they ever were in the loftiest minds of the seventeenth century2 and they have laid aside the bitterness1 the strain of sternness and savagery--,i was almost saying1 of pedantry--that sometimes coloured them in that age4 ,and so1 as a set-off to the frightful perversities of the modern spirit1 we find1 in the very temple where that spirit has set up the high altar of its power1 a striking contrast1 which never appeared to former centuries in the same consoling light as it has to our own4 ,i do not even believe that there is a lack of great men in periods of corruption and decadence2 and by 8great men0 ,i mean those most richly endowed with energy of character and the masculine virtues4 ,if ,i look at the list of the ,roman ,emperors 7most of them1 by the way1 as high above their subjects in merit as they were in rank7 ,i find names like ,trajan1 ,antoninus ,pius1 ,septimius ,severus1 and ,jovian2 and below the throne1 even among the city mob1 ,i see with admiration all the great theologians1 the great martyrs1 the apostles of the primitive ,church1 to say nothing of the virtuous ,pagans4 ,strong1 brave1 and active spirits filled the camps and the ,italian towns2 and one may doubt whether in the time of ,cincinnatus1 ,rome held1 in proportion1 so many men of eminence in all the walks of practical life4 ,the testimony of the facts is conclusive4 ,thus men of strong character1 men of talent and energy1 so far from being unknown to human societies in the time of their decadence and old age1 are actually to be found in greater abundance than in the days when an empire is young4 ,further1 the ordinary level of morality is higher in the later period than in the earlier4 ,it is not generally true to say that in ,states on the point of death the corruption of morals is any more virulent than in those just born4 ,it is equally doubtful whether this corruption brings about their fall2 for some ,states1 far from dying of their perversity1 have lived and grown fat on it4 ,one may go further1 and show that moral degradation is not necessarily a mortal disease at all2 for1 as against the other maladies of society1 it has the advantage of being curable2 and the cure is sometimes very rapid4 ,in fact1 the morals of any particular people are in continual ebb and flow throughout its history4 ,to go no further afield than our own ,france1 we may say that1 in the fifth and sixth centuries1 the conquered race of the ,gallo-,romans were certainly better than their conquerors from a moral point of view4 ,taken individually1 they were not always their inferiors even in courage and the military virtues4#i ,in the following centuries1 when the two races had begun to intermingle1 they seem to have deteriorated2 and we have no reason to be very proud of the picture that was presented by our dear country about the eighth and ninth centuries4 ,but in the eleventh1 twelfth1 and thirteenth1 a great change came over the scene4 ,society had succeeded in harmonizing its most discordant elements1 and the state of morals was reasonably good4 ,the ideas of the time were not favourable to the little casuistries that keep a man from the right path even when he wishes to walk in it4 ,the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were times of terrible conflict and perversity4 ,brigandage reigned supreme4 ,it was a period of decadence in the strictest sense of the word2 and the decadence was shown in a thousand ways4 ,in view of the debauchery1 the tyranny1 and the massacres of that age1 of the complete withering of all the finer feelings in every section of the ,state--in the nobles who plundered their villeins1 in the citizens who sold their country to ,england1 in a clergy that was false to its professions--one might have thought that the whole society was about to crash to the ground and bury its shame deep under its own ruins4444 ,the crash never came4 ,the society continued to live2 it devised remedies1 it beat back its foes1 it emerged from the dark cloud4 ,the sixteenth century was far more reputable than its predecessor1 in spite of its orgies of blood1 which were a pale reflection of those of the preceding age4 ,st4 ,bartholomew's day is not such a shameful memory as the massacre of the ,armagnacs4 ,finally1 the ,french people passed from this semi-barbarous twilight into the pure splendour of day1 the age of ,fnelon1 ,bossuet1 and the ,montausier4 ,thus1 up to ,louis ,,xiv1 our history shows a series of rapid changes from good to evil1 from evil to good2 while the real vitality of the nation has little to do with its moral condition4 ,i have touched lightly on the larger curves of change2 to trace the multitude of lesser changes within these would require many pages4 ,to speak even of what we have all but seen with our own eyes1 is it not clear that in every decade since #aghg the standard of morality has varied enormously8 ,i conclude that the corruption of morals is a fleeting and unstable phenomenon2 it becomes sometimes worse and sometimes better1 and so cannot be considered as necessarily causing the ruin of societies4 ,i must examine here an argument1 put forward in our time1 which never entered people's heads in the eighteenth century2 but as it fits in admirably with the subject of the preceding paragraph1 ,i could not find a better place in which to speak of it4 ,many people have come to think that the end of a society is at hand when its religious ideas tend to weaken and disappear4 ,they see a kind of connexion between the open profession of the doctrines of ,zeno and ,epicurus at ,athens and ,rome1 with the consequent abandonment 7according to them7 of the national cults1 and the fall of the two republics4 ,they fail to notice that these are virtually the only examples that can be given of such a coincidence4 ,the ,persian ,empire at the time of its fall was wholly under the sway of the ,magi4 ,tyre1 ,carthage1 ,juda1 the ,aztec and ,peruvian monarchies were struck down while fanatically clinging to their altars4 ,thus it cannot be maintained that all the peoples whose existence as a nation is being destroyed are at that moment expiating the sin they committed in deserting the faith of their fathers4 ,further1 even the two examples that go to support the theory seem to prove much more than they really do4 ,i deny absolutely that the ancient cults were ever given up in ,rome or ,athens1 until the day when they were supplanted in the hearts of all men by the victorious religion of ,christ4 ,in other words1 ,i believe that there has never been a real breach of continuity in the religious beliefs of any nation on this earth4 ,the outward form or inner meaning of the creed may have changed2 but we shall always find some ,gallic ,teutates making way for the ,roman ,jupiter1 ,jupiter for the ,christian ,god1 without any interval of unbelief1 in exactly the same way as the dead give up their inheritance to the living4 ,hence1 as there has never been a nation of which one could say that it had no faith at all1 we have no right to assume that 8the lack of faith causes the destruction of ,states40 ,i quite see the grounds on which such a view is based4 ,its defenders will tell us of 8the notorious fact0 that a little before the time of ,pericles at ,athens1 and about the age of the ,scipios at ,rome the upper classes became more and more prone1 first to reason about their religion1 then to doubt it1 and finally to give up all faith in it1 and to take pride in being atheists4 ,little by little1 we shall be told1 the habit of atheism spread1 until there was no one with any pretensions to intellect at all who did not defy one augur to pass another without smiling4 ,this opinion has a grain of truth1 but is largely false4 ,say1 if you will1 that ,aspasia1 at the end of her little suppers1 and ,llius1 in the company of his friends1 made a virtue of mocking at the sacred beliefs of their country2 no one will contradict you4 ,but they would not have been allowed to vent their ideas too publicly2 and yet they lived at the two most brilliant periods of ,greek and ,roman history4 ,the imprudent conduct of his mistress all but cost ,pericles himself very dear2 we remember the tears he shed in open court1 tears which would not of themselves have secured the acquittal of the fair infidel4 ,think1 too1 of the official language held by contemporary poets1 how ,sophocles and ,aristophanes succeeded schylus as the stern champions of outraged deity4 ,the whole nation believed in its gods1 regarded ,socrates as a revolutionary and a criminal1 and wished to see ,anaxagoras brought to trial and condemned4444 ,what of the later ages8 ,did the impious theories of the philosophers succeed at any time in reaching the masses8 ,not for a single day4 ,scepticism remained a luxury of the fashionable world and of that world alone4 ,one may call it useless to speak of the thoughts of the plain citizens1 the country folk1 and the slaves1 who had no influence in the government1 and could not impose their ideas on their rulers4 ,they had1 however1 a very real influence2 and the proof is that until paganism was at its last gasp1 their temples and shrines had to be kept going1 and their acolytes to be paid4 ,the most eminent and enlightened men1 the most fervent in their unbelief1 had not only to accept the public honour of wearing the priestly robe1 but to undertake the most disagreeable duties of the cult--they who were accustomed to turn over1 day and night1 manu diurna1 manu nocturna1 the pages of ,lucretius4 ,not only did they go through these rites on ceremonial occasions1 but they used their scanty hours of leisure1 hours snatched with difficulty from the life-and-death game of politics1 in composing treatises on augury4 ,i am referring to the great ,julius4#aj ,well1 all the emperors after him had to hold the office of high-priest1 even ,constantine4 ,he1 certainly1 had far stronger reason than all his predecessors for shaking off a yoke so degrading to his honour as a ,christian prince2 yet he was forced by public opinion1 that blazed up for the last time before being extinguished for ever1 to come to terms with the old national religion4 ,thus it was not the faith of the plain citizens1 the country folk1 and the slaves that was of small account2 it was the theories of the men of culture that mattered nothing4 ,they protested in vain1 in the name of reason and good sense1 against the absurdities of paganism2 the mass of the people neither would nor could give up one belief before they had been provided with another4 ,they proved once more the great truth that it is affirmation1 not negation1 which is of service in the business of this world4 ,so strongly did men feel this truth in the third century that there was a religious reaction among the higher classes4 ,the reaction was serious and general1 and lasted till the world definitely passed into the arms of the ,church4 ,in fact1 the supremacy of philosophy reached its highest point under the ,antonines and began to decline soon after their death4 ,i need not here go deeply into this question1 however interesting it may be for the historian of ideas2 it will be enough for me to show that the revolution gained ground as the years went on1 and to bring out its immediate cause4 ,the older the ,roman world became1 the greater was the part played by the army4 ,from the emperor1 who invariably came from the ranks1 down to the pettiest officer in his ,prtorian guard and the prefect of the most unimportant district1 every official had begun his career on the parade-ground1 under the vine-staff of the centurion2 in other words they had all sprung from the mass of the people1 of whose unquenchable piety ,i have already spoken4 ,when they had scaled the heights of office1 they found confronting them1 to their intense annoyance and dismay1 the ancient aristocracy of the municipalities1 the local senators1 who took pleasure in regarding them as upstarts1 and would gladly have turned them to ridicule if they had dared4 ,thus the real masters of the ,state and the once predominant families were at daggers drawn4 ,the commanders of the army were believers and fanatics--,maximin1 for example1 and ,galerius1 and a hundred others4 ,the senators and decurions still found their chief delight in the literature of the sceptics2 but as they actually lived at court1 that is to say among soldiers1 they were forced to adopt a way of speaking and an official set of opinions which should not put them to any risk4 ,gradually an atmosphere of devotion spread through the ,empire2 and this led the philosophers themselves1 with ,euhemerus at their head1 to invent systems of reconciling the theories of the rationalists with the ,state religion--a movement in which the ,emperor ,julian was the most powerful spirit4 ,there is no reason to give much praise to this renaissance of pagan piety1 for it caused most of the persecutions under which our martyrs have suffered4 ,the masses1 whose religious feelings had been wounded by the atheistic sects1 had bided their time so long as they were ruled by the upper classes4 ,but as soon as the empire had become democratic1 and the pride of these classes had been brought low1 then the populace determined to have their revenge4 ,they made a mistake1 however1 in their victims1 and cut the throats of the ,christians1 whom they took for philosophers1 and accused of impiety4 ,what a difference there was between this and an earlier age6 ,the really sceptical pagan was ,king ,agrippa1 who wished to hear ,st4 ,paul merely out of curiosity4#aa ,he listened to him1 disputed with him1 took him for a madman1 but did not dream of punishing him for thinking differently from himself4 ,another example is the historian ,tacitus1 who was full of contempt for the new sectaries1 but blamed ,nero for his cruelty in persecuting them4 ,agrippa and ,tacitus were the real unbelievers4 ,diocletian was a politician ruled by the clamours of his people2 ,decius and ,aurelian were fanatics like their subjects4 ,even when the ,roman ,government had definitely gone over to ,christianity1 what a task it was to bring the different peoples into the bosom of the ,church6 ,in ,greece there was a series of terrible struggles1 in the ,universities as well as in the small towns and villages4 ,the bishops had everywhere such difficulty in ousting the little local divinities that very often the victory was due less to argument and conversion than to time1 patience1 and diplomacy4 ,the clergy were forced to make use of pious frauds1 and their ingenuity replaced the deities of wood1 meadow1 and fountain1 by saints1 martyrs1 and virgins4 ,thus the feelings of reverence continued without a break2 for some time they were directed to the wrong objects1 but they at last found the right road4444 ,but what am ,i saying8 ,can we be so certain that even in ,france there are not to be found to this day a few places where the tenacity of some odd superstition still gives trouble to the parish priest8 ,in ,catholic ,brittany1 in the eighteenth century1 a bishop had a long struggle with a village-people that clung to the worship of a stone idol4 ,in vain was the gross image thrown into the water2 its fanatical admirers always fished it out again1 and the help of a company of infantry was needed to break it to pieces4 ,we see from this what a long life paganism had--and still has4 ,i conclude that there is no good reason for holding that ,rome and ,athens were for a single day without religion4 ,since then1 a nation has never1 either in ancient or modern times1 given up one faith before being duly provided with another1 it is impossible to claim that the ruin of nations follows from their irreligion4 ,i have now shown that fanaticism1 luxury1 and the corruption of morals have not necessarily any power of destruction1 and that irreligion has no political reality at all2 it remains to discuss the influence of bad government1 which is well worth a chapter to itself4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,the ,,relative ,,merit ,,of ,,governments ,,has ,,no ,,influence ,,on ,,the ,,length ,,of ,a ,,nation',s ,,life ,i know the difficulty of my present task4 ,that ,i should even venture to touch on it will seem a kind of paradox to many of my readers4 ,people are convinced1 and rightly convinced1 that the good administration of good laws has a direct and powerful influence on the health of a people2 and this conviction is so strong1 that they attribute to such administration the mere fact that a human society goes on living at all4 ,here they are wrong4 ,they would be right1 of course1 if it were true that nations could exist only in a state of well-being2 but we know that1 like individuals1 they can often go on for a long time1 carrying within them the seeds of some fell disease1 which may suddenly break out in a virulent form4 ,if nations invariably died of their sufferings1 not one would survive the first years of its growth2 for it is precisely in those years that they show the worst administration1 the worst laws1 and the greatest disorder4 ,but in this respect they are the exact opposite of the human organism4 ,the greatest enemy that the latter has to fear1 especially in infancy1 is a continuous series of illnesses--we know beforehand that there is no resisting these2 to a society1 however1 such a series does no harm at all1 and history gives us abundant proof that the body politic is always being cured of the longest1 the most terrible and devastating attacks of disease1 of which the worst forms are ill-conceived laws and an oppressive or negligent administration4#ab ,we will first try to make clear in what a 8bad government0 consists4 ,it is a malady that seems to take many forms4 ,it would be impossible even to enumerate them all1 for they are multiplied to infinity by the differences in the constitutions of peoples1 and in the place and time of their existence4 ,but if we group these forms under four main headings1 there are very few varieties that will not be included4 ,a government is bad when it is set up by a foreign ,power4 ,athens experienced this kind of government under the ,thirty ,tyrants2 they were driven out1 and the national spirit1 far from dying under their oppressive rule1 was tempered by it to a greater hardness4 ,a government is bad when it is based on conquest1 pure and simple4 ,in the fourteenth century practically the whole of ,france passed under the yoke of ,england4 ,it emerged stronger than before1 and entered on a career of great brilliance4 ,china was overrun and conquered by hordes of ,mongols2 it managed to expel them beyond its borders1 after sapping their vitality in a most extraordinary way4 ,since that time ,china has fallen into a new servitude2 but although the ,manchus have already enjoyed more than a century of sovereignty1 they are on the eve of suffering the same fate as the ,mongols1 and have passed through a similar period of weakness4 ,a government is especially bad when the principle on which it rests becomes vitiated1 and ceases to operate in the healthy and vigorous way it did at first4 ,this was the condition of the ,spanish monarchy4 ,it was based on the military spirit and the idea of social freedom2 towards the end of ,philip ,,ii's reign it forgot its origin and began to degenerate4 ,there has never been a country where all theories of conduct had become more obsolete1 where the executive was more feeble and discredited1 where the organization of the church itself was so open to criticism4 ,agriculture and industry1 like everything else1 were struck down and all but buried in the morass where the nation was decaying4444 ,but is ,spain dead8 ,not at all4 ,the country of which so many despaired has given ,europe the glorious example of a desperate resistance to the fortune of our arms2 and at the present moment it is perhaps in ,spain1 of all the modern ,states1 that the feeling of nationality is most intense4 ,finally1 a government is bad when1 by the very nature of its institutions1 it gives colour to an antagonism between the supreme power and the mass of the people1 or between different classes of society4 ,thus1 in the ,middle ,ages1 we see the kings of ,england and ,france engaged in a struggle with their great vassals1 and the peasants flying at the throats of their overlords4 ,in ,germany1 too1 the first effects of the new freedom of thought were the civil wars of the ,hussites1 the ,anabaptists1 and all the other sectaries4 ,a little before that1 ,italy was in such distress through the division of the supreme power1 and the quarrel over the fragments between the ,emperor1 the ,pope1 the nobles1 and the communes1 that the masses1 not knowing whom to obey1 often ended by obeying nobody4 ,did this cause the ruin of the whole society8 ,not at all4 ,its civilization was never more brilliant1 its industry more productive1 its influence abroad more incontestable4 ,i can well believe that sometimes1 in the midst of these storms1 a wise and potent law-giver came1 like a sunbeam1 to shed the light of his beneficence on the peoples he ruled4 ,the light remained only for a short space2 and just as its absence had not caused death1 so its presence did not bring life4 ,for this1 the times of prosperity would have had to be frequent and of long duration4 ,but upright princes were rare in that age1 and are rare in all ages4 ,even the best of them have their detractors1 and the happiest pictures are full of shadow4 ,do all historians alike regard the time of ,king ,william ,,iii as an era of prosperity for ,england8 ,do they all admire ,louis ,,xiv1 the ,great1 without reserve8 ,on the contrary2 the critics are all at their posts1 and their arrows know where to find their mark4 ,and yet these are1 on the whole1 the best regulated and most fruitful periods in the history of ourselves and our neighbours4 ,good governments are so thinly sown on the soil of the ages1 and even when they spring up1 are so withered by criticism2 political science1 the highest and most intricate of all sciences1 is so incommensurate with the weakness of man1 that we cannot sincerely claim that nations perish from being ill-governed4 ,thank heaven they have the power of soon becoming accustomed to their sufferings1 which1 in their worst forms1 are infinitely preferable to anarchy4 ,the most superficial study of history will be enough to show that however bad may be the government that is draining away the life-blood of a people1 it is often better than many of the administrations that have gone before4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,the ,,meaning ,,of ,,the ,,word 8,,degeneration02 ,,the ,,mixture ,,of ,,racial ,,elements2 ,,how ,,societies ,,are ,,formed ,,and ,,broken ,,up ,however little the spirit of the foregoing pages may have been understood1 no one will conclude from them that ,i attach no importance to the maladies of the social organism1 and that1 for me1 bad government1 fanaticism1 and irreligion are mere unmeaning accidents4 ,on the contrary ,i quite agree with the ordinary view1 that it is a lamentable thing to see a society being gradually undermined by these fell diseases1 and that no amount of care and trouble would be wasted if a remedy could only be found4 ,i merely add that if these poisonous blossoms of disunion are not grafted on a stronger principle of destruction1 if they are not the consequences of a hidden plague more terrible still1 we may rest assured that their ravages will not be fatal and that after a time of suffering more or less drawn out1 the society will emerge from their toils1 perhaps with strength and youth renewed4 ,the examples ,i have brought forward seem to me conclusive1 though their number might be indefinitely increased4 ,through some such reasoning as this the ordinary opinions of men have at last come to contain an instinctive perception of the truth4 ,it is being dimly seen that one ought not to have given such a preponderant importance to evils which were after all merely derivative1 and that the true causes of the life and death of peoples should have been sought elsewhere1 and been drawn from a deeper well4 ,men have begun to look at the inner constitution of a society1 by itself1 quite apart from all circumstances of health or disease4 ,they have shown themselves ready to admit that no external cause could lay the hand of death on any society1 so long as a certain destructive principle1 inherent in it from the first1 born from its womb and nourished on its entrails1 had not reached its full maturity2 on the other hand1 so soon as this destructive principle had come into existence1 the society was doomed to certain death1 even though it had the best of all possible governments--in exactly the same way as a spent horse will fall dead on a concrete road4 ,a great step in advance was made1 ,i admit1 when the question was considered from this point of view1 which was anyhow much more philosophic than the one taken up before4 ,bichat1#ac as we know1 did not seek to discover the great mystery of existence by studying the human subject from the outside2 the key to the riddle1 he saw1 lay within4 ,those who followed the same method1 in our own subject1 were travelling on the only road that really led to discoveries4 ,unfortunately1 this excellent idea of theirs was the result of mere instinct2 its logical implications were not carried very far1 and it was shattered on the first difficulty4 8,yes10 they cried1 8the cause of destruction lies hidden in the very vitals of the social organism2 but what is this cause80 8,degeneration10 was the answer2 8nations die when they are composed of elements that have degenerated40 ,the answer was excellent1 etymologically and otherwise4 ,it only remained to define the meaning of 8nation that has degenerated40 ,this was the rock on which they foundered2 a degenerate people meant1 they said1 8,a people which through bad government1 misuse of wealth1 fanaticism1 or irreligion1 had lost the characteristic virtues of its ancestors40 ,what a fall is there6 ,thus a people dies of its endemic diseases because it is degenerate1 and is degenerate because it dies4 ,this circular argument merely proves that the science of social anatomy is in its infancy4 ,i quite agree that societies perish because they are degenerate1 and for no other reason4 ,this is the evil condition that makes them wholly unable to withstand the shock of the disasters that close in upon them2 and when they can no longer endure the blows of adverse fortune1 and have no power to raise their heads when the scourge has passed1 then we have the sublime spectacle of a nation in agony4 ,if it perish1 it is because it has no longer the same vigour as it had of old in battling with the dangers of life2 in a word1 because it is degenerate4 ,i repeat1 the term is excellent2 but we must explain it a little better1 and give it a definite meaning4 ,how and why is a nation's vigour lost8 ,how does it degenerate8 ,these are the questions which we must try to answer4 ,up to the present1 men have been content with finding the word1 without unveiling the reality that lies behind4 ,this further step ,i shall now attempt to take4 ,the word degenerate1 when applied to a people1 means 7as it ought to mean7 that the people has no longer the same intrinsic value as it had before1 because it has no longer the same blood in its veins1 continual adulterations having gradually affected the quality of that blood4 ,in other words1 though the nation bears the name given by its founders1 the name no longer connotes the same race2 in fact1 the man of a decadent time1 the degenerate man properly so called1 is a different being1 from the racial point of view1 from the heroes of the great ages4 ,i agree that he still keeps something of their essence2 but the more he degenerates the more attenuated does this 8something0 become4 ,the heterogeneous elements that henceforth prevail in him give him quite a different nationality--a very original one1 no doubt1 but such originality is not to be envied4 ,he is only a very distant kinsman of those he still calls his ancestors4 ,he1 and his civilization with him1 will certainly die on the day when the primordial race-unit is so broken up and swamped by the influx of foreign elements1 that its effective qualities have no longer a sufficient freedom of action4 ,it will not1 of course1 absolutely disappear1 but it will in practice be so beaten down and enfeebled1 that its power will be felt less and less as time goes on4 ,it is at this point that all the results of degeneration will appear1 and the process may be considered complete4 ,if ,i manage to prove this proposition1 ,i shall have given a meaning to the word 8degeneration40 ,by showing how the essential quality of a nation gradually alters1 ,i shift the responsibility for its decadence1 which thus becomes1 in a way1 less shameful1 for it weighs no longer on the sons1 but on the nephews1 then on the cousins1 then on collaterals more or less removed4 ,and when ,i have shown by examples that great peoples1 at the moment of their death1 have only a very small and insignificant share in the blood of the founders1 into whose inheritance they come1 ,i shall thereby have explained clearly enough how it is possible for civilizations to fall--the reason being that they are no longer in the same hands4 ,at the same time ,i shall be touching on a problem which is much more dangerous than that which ,i have tried to solve in the preceding chapters4 ,this problem is3 8,are there serious and ultimate differences of value between human races2 and can these differences be estimated80 ,i will begin at once to develop the series of arguments that touch the first point2 they will indirectly settle the second also4 ,to put my ideas into a clearer and more easily intelligible form ,i may compare a nation to a human body1 which1 according to the physiologists1 is constantly renewing all its parts2 the work of transformation that goes on is incessant1 and after a certain number of years the body retains hardly any of its former elements4 ,thus1 in the old man1 there are no traces of the man of middle age1 in the adult no traces of the youth1 nor in the youth of the child2 the personal identity in all these stages is kept purely by the succession of inner and outer forms1 each an imperfect copy of the last4 ,yet ,i will admit one difference between a nation and a human body2 in the former there is no question of the 8forms0 being preserved1 for these are destroyed and disappear with enormous rapidity4 ,i will take a people1 or better1 a tribe1 at the moment when1 yielding to a definite vital instinct1 it provides itself with laws and begins to play a part in the world4 ,by the mere fact of its wants and powers increasing1 it inevitably finds itself in contact with other similar associations1 and by war or peaceful measures succeeds in incorporating them with itself4 ,not all human families can reach this first step2 but it is a step that every tribe must take if it is to rank one day as a nation4 ,even if a certain number of races1 themselves perhaps not very far advanced on the ladder of civilization1 have passed through this stage1 we cannot properly regard this as a general rule4 ,indeed1 the human species seems to have a very great difficulty in raising itself above a rudimentary type of organization2 the transition to a more complex state is made only by those groups of tribes1 that are eminently gifted4 ,i may cite1 in support of this1 the actual condition of a large number of communities spread throughout the world4 ,these backward tribes1 especially the ,polynesian negroes1 the ,samoyedes and others in the far north1 and the majority of the ,african races1 have never been able to shake themselves free from their impotence2 they live side by side in complete independence of each other4 ,the stronger massacre the weaker1 the weaker try to move as far away as possible from the stronger4 ,this sums up the political ideas of these embryo societies1 which have lived on in their imperfect state1 without possibility of improvement1 as long as the human race itself4 ,it may be said that these miserable savages are a very small part of the earth's population4 ,granted2 but we must take account of all the similar peoples who have lived and disappeared4 ,their number is incalculable1 and certainly includes the vast majority of the pure-blooded yellow and black races4 ,if then we are driven to admit that for a very large number of human beings it has been1 and always will be1 impossible to take even the first step towards civilization2 if1 again1 we consider that these peoples are scattered over the whole face of the earth under the most varying conditions of climate and environment1 that they live indifferently in the tropics1 in the temperate zones1 and in the ,arctic circle1 by sea1 lake1 and river1 in the depths of the forest1 in the grassy plains1 in the arid deserts1 we must conclude that a part of mankind1 is in its own nature stricken with a paralysis1 which makes it for ever unable to take even the first step towards civilization1 since it cannot overcome the natural repugnance1 felt by men and animals alike1 to a crossing of blood4 ,leaving these tribes1 that are incapable of civilization1 on one side1 we come1 in our journey upwards1 to those which understand that if they wish to increase their power and prosperity1 they are absolutely compelled1 either by war or peaceful measures1 to draw their neighbours within their sphere of influence4 ,war is undoubtedly the simpler way of doing this4 ,accordingly1 they go to war4 ,but when the campaign is finished1 and the craving for destruction is satisfied1 some prisoners are left over2 these prisoners become slaves1 and as slaves1 work for their masters4 ,we have class distinctions at once1 and an industrial system3 the tribe has become a little people4 ,this is a higher rung on the ladder of civilization1 and is not necessarily passed by all the tribes which have been able to reach it2 many remain at this stage in cheerful stagnation4 ,but there are others1 more imaginative and energetic1 whose ideas soar beyond mere brigandage4 ,they manage to conquer a great territory1 and assume rights of ownership not only over the inhabitants1 but also over their land4 ,from this moment a real nation has been formed4 ,the two races often continue for a time to live side by side without mingling2 and yet1 as they become indispensable to each other1 as a community of work and interest is gradually built up1 as the pride and rancour of conquest begin to ebb away1 as those below naturally tend to rise to the level of their masters1 while the masters have a thousand reasons for allowing1 or even for promoting1 such a tendency1 the mixture of blood finally takes place1 the two races cease to be associated with distinct tribes1 and become more and more fused into a single whole4 ,the spirit of isolation is1 however1 so innate in the human race1 that even those who have reached this advanced stage of crossing refuse in many cases to take a step further4 ,there are some peoples who are1 as we know positively1 of mixed origin1 but who keep their feeling for the clan to an extraordinary degree4 ,the ,arabs1 for example1 do more than merely spring from different branches of the ,semitic stock2 they belong at one and the same time to the so-called families of ,shem and ,ham1 not to speak of a vast number of local strains that are intermingled with these4 ,nevertheless1 their attachment to the tribe1 as a separate unit1 is one of the most striking features of their national character and their political history4 ,in fact1 it has been thought possible to attribute their expulsion from ,spain not only to the actual breaking up of their power there1 but also1 to a large extent1 to their being continually divided into smaller and mutually antagonistic groups1 in the struggles for promotion among the ,arab families at the petty courts of ,valentia1 ,toledo1 ,cordova1 and ,grenada4#ad ,we may say the same about the majority of such peoples4 ,further1 where the tribal separation has broken down1 a national feeling takes its place1 and acts with a similar vigour1 which a community of religion is not enough to destroy4 ,this is the case among the ,arabs and the ,turks1 the ,persians and the ,jews1 the ,parsees and the ,hindus1 the ,nestorians of ,syria and the ,kurds4 ,we find it also in ,european ,turkey1 and can trace its course in ,hungary1 among the ,magyars1 the ,saxons1 the ,wallachians1 and the ,croats4 ,i know1 from what ,i have seen with my own eyes1 that in certain parts of ,france1 the country where races are mingled more than perhaps anywhere else1 there are little communities to be found to this day1 who feel a repugnance to marrying outside their own village4 ,i think ,i am right in concluding from these examples1 which cover all countries and ages1 including our own1 that the human race in all its branches has a secret repulsion from the crossing of blood1 a repulsion which in many of the branches is invincible1 and in others is only conquered to a slight extent4 ,even those who most completely shake off the yoke of this idea cannot get rid of the few last traces of it2 yet such peoples are the only members of our species who can be civilized at all4 ,thus mankind lives in obedience to two laws1 one of repulsion1 the other of attraction2 these act with different force on different peoples4 ,the first is fully respected only by those races which can never raise themselves above the elementary completeness of the tribal life1 while the power of the second1 on the contrary1 is the more absolute1 as the racial units on which it is exercised are more capable of development4 ,here especially ,i must be concrete4 ,i have just taken the example of a people in embryo1 whose state is like that of a single family4 ,i have given them the qualities which will allow them to pass into the state of a nation4 ,well1 suppose they have become a nation4 ,history does not tell me what the elements were that constituted the original group2 all ,i know is that these elements fitted it for the transformation which ,i have made it undergo4 ,now that it has grown1 it has only two possibilities4 ,one or other of two destinies is inevitable4 ,it will either conquer or be conquered4 ,i will give it the better part1 and assume that it will conquer4 ,it will at the same time rule1 administer1 and civilize4 ,it will not go through its provinces1 sowing a useless harvest of fire and massacre4 ,monuments1 customs1 and institutions will be alike sacred4 ,it will change what it can usefully modify1 and replace it by something better4 ,weakness in its hands will become strength4 ,it will behave in such a way that1 in the words of ,scripture1 it will be magnified in the sight of men4 ,i do not know if the same thought has already struck the reader2 but in the picture which ,i am presenting--and which in certain features is that of the ,hindus1 the ,egyptians1 the ,persians and the ,macedonians--two facts appear to me to stand out4 ,the first is that a nation1 which itself lacks vigour and power1 is suddenly called upon to share a new and a better destiny--that of the strong masters into whose hands it has fallen2 this was the case with the ,anglo-,saxons1 when they had been subdued by the ,normans4 ,the second fact is that a picked race of men1 a sovereign people1 with the usual strong propensities of such a people to cross its blood with another's1 finds itself henceforth in close contact with a race whose inferiority is shown1 not only by defeat1 but also by the lack of the attributes that may be seen in the conquerors4 ,from the very day when the conquest is accomplished and the fusion begins1 there appears a noticeable change of quality in the blood of the masters4 ,if there were no other modifying influence at work1 then--at the end of a number of years1 which would vary according to the number of peoples that composed the original stock--we should be confronted with a new race1 less powerful certainly than the better of its two ancestors1 but still of considerable strength4 ,it would have developed special qualities resulting from the actual mixture1 and unknown to the communities from which it sprang4 ,but the case is not generally so simple as this1 and the intermingling of blood is not confined for long to the two constituent peoples4 ,the empire ,i have just been imagining is a powerful one1 and its power is used to control its neighbours4 ,i assume that there will be new conquests2 and1 every time1 a current of fresh blood will be mingled with the main stream4 ,henceforth1 as the nation grows1 whether by war or treaty1 its racial character changes more and more4 ,it is rich1 commercial1 and civilized4 ,the needs and the pleasures of other peoples find ample satisfaction in its capitals1 its great towns1 and its ports2 while its myriad attractions cause many foreigners to make it their home4 ,after a short time1 we might truly say that a distinction of castes takes the place of the original distinction of races4 ,i am willing to grant that the people of whom ,i am speaking is strengthened in its exclusive notions by the most formal commands of religion1 and that some dreadful penalty lurks in the background1 to awe the disobedient4 ,but since the people is civilized1 its character is soft and tolerant1 even to the contempt of its faith4 ,its oracles will speak in vain2 there will be births outside the caste-limits4 ,every day new distinctions will have to be drawn1 new classifications invented2 the number of social grades will be increased1 and it will be almost impossible to know where one is1 amid the infinite variety of the subdivisions1 that change from province to province1 from canton to canton1 from village to village4 ,in fact1 the condition will be that of the ,hindu countries4 ,it is only1 however1 the ,brahman who has shown himself so tenacious of his ideas of separation2 the foreign peoples he civilized have never fastened these cramping fetters on their shoulders1 or any rate have long since shaken them off4 ,in all the ,states that have made any advance in intellectual culture1 the process has not been checked for a single moment by those desperate shifts to which the law-givers of the ,aryavarta were put1 in their desire to reconcile the prescriptions of the ,code of ,manu with the irresistible march of events4 ,in every other place where there were really any castes at all1 they ceased to exist at the moment when the chance of making a fortune1 and of becoming famous by useful discoveries or social talents1 became open to the whole world1 without distinction of origin4 ,but also1 from that same day1 the nation that was originally the active1 conquering1 and civilizing power began to disappear2 its blood became merged in that of all the tributaries which it had attracted to its own stream4 ,generally the dominating peoples begin by being far fewer in number than those they conquer2 while1 on the other hand1 certain races that form the basis of the population in immense districts are extremely prolific--the ,celts1 for example1 and the ,slavs4 ,this is yet another reason for the rapid disappearance of the conquering races4 ,again1 their greater activity and the more personal part they take in the affairs of the ,state make them the chief mark for attack after a disastrous battle1 a proscription1 or a revolution4 ,thus1 while by their very genius for civilization they collect round them the different elements in which they are to be absorbed1 they are the victims1 first of their original smallness of number1 and then of a host of secondary causes which combine together for their destruction4 ,it is fairly obvious that the time when the disappearance takes place will vary considerably1 according to circumstances4 ,yet it does finally come to pass1 and is everywhere quite complete1 long before the end of the civilization which the victorious race is supposed to be animating4 ,a people may often go on living and working1 and even growing in power1 after the active1 generating force of its life and glory has ceased to exist4 ,does this contradict what ,i have said above8 ,not at all2 for while the blood of the civilizing race is gradually drained away by being parcelled out among the peoples that are conquered or annexed1 the impulse originally given to these peoples still persists4 ,the institutions which the dead master had invented1 the laws he had prescribed1 the customs he had initiated--all these live after him4 ,no doubt the customs1 laws1 and institutions have quite forgotten the spirit that informed their youth2 they survive in dishonoured old age1 every day more sapless and rotten4 ,but so long as even their shadows remain1 the building stands1 the body seems to have a soul1 the pale ghost walks4 ,when the original impulse has worked itself out1 the last word has been said4 ,nothing remains2 the civilization is dead4 ,i think ,i now have all the data necessary for grappling with the problem of the life and death of nations2 and ,i can say positively that a people will never die1 if it remains eternally composed of the same national elements4 ,if the empire of ,darius had1 at the battle of ,arbela1 been able to fill its ranks with ,persians1 that is to say with real ,aryans2 if the ,romans of the later ,empire had had a ,senate and an army of the same stock as that which existed at the time of the ,fabii1 their dominion would never have come to an end4 ,so long as they kept the same purity of blood1 the ,persians and ,romans would have lived and reigned4 ,in the long run1 it might be said1 a conqueror1 more irresistible than they1 would have appeared on the scene2 and they would have fallen under a well-directed attack1 or a long siege1 or simply by the fortune of a single battle4 ,yes1 a ,state might be overthrown in this way1 but not a civilization or a social organism4 ,invasion and defeat are but the dark clouds that for a time blot out the day1 and then pass over4 ,many examples might be brought forward in proof of this4 ,in modern times the ,chinese have been twice conquered4 ,they have always forced their conquerors to become assimilated to them1 and to respect their customs2 they gave much1 and took hardly anything in return4 ,they drove out the first invaders1 and in time will do the same with the second4 ,the ,english are the masters of ,india1 and yet their moral hold over their subjects is almost non-existent4 ,they are themselves influenced in many ways by the local civilization1 and cannot succeed in stamping their ideas on a people that fears its conquerors1 but is only physically dominated by them4 ,it keeps its soul erect1 and its thoughts apart from theirs4 ,the ,hindu race has become a stranger to the race that governs it to-day1 and its civilization does not obey the law that gives the battle to the strong4 ,external forms1 kingdoms1 and empires have changed1 and will change again2 but the foundations on which they rest1 and from which they spring1 do not necessarily change with them4 ,though ,hyderabad1 ,lahore1 and ,delhi are no longer capital cities1 ,hindu society none the less persists4 ,a moment will come1 in one way or another1 when ,india will again live publicly1 as she already does privately1 under her own laws2 and1 by the help either of the races actually existing or of a hybrid proceeding from them1 will assume again1 in the full sense of the word1 a political personality4 ,the hazard of war cannot destroy the life of a people4 ,at most1 it suspends its animation for a time1 and in some ways shears it of its outward pomp4 ,so long as the blood and institutions of a nation keep to a sufficient degree the impress of the original race1 that nation exists4 ,whether1 as in the case of the ,chinese1 its conqueror has1 in a purely material sense1 greater energy than itself2 whether1 like the ,hindu1 it is matched1 in a long and arduous trial of patience1 against a nation1 such as the ,english1 in all points its superior2 in either case the thought of its certain destiny should bring consolation--one day it will be free4 ,but if1 like the ,greeks1 and the ,romans of the later ,empire1 the people has been absolutely drained of its original blood1 and the qualities conferred by the blood1 then the day of its defeat will be the day of its death4 ,it has used up the time that heaven granted at its birth1 for it has completely changed its race1 and with its race its nature4 ,it is therefore degenerate4 ,in view of the preceding paragraph1 we may regard as settled the vexed question as to what would have happened if the ,carthaginians1 instead of falling before the fortunes of ,rome1 had become masters of ,italy4 ,inasmuch as they belonged to the ,phnician stock1 a stock inferior in the citizen-virtues to the races that produced the soldiers of ,scipio1 a different issue of the battle of ,zama could not have made any change in their destiny4 ,if they had been lucky on one day1 the next would have seen their luck recoil on their heads2 or they might have been merged in the ,italian race by victory1 as they were by defeat4 ,in any case the final result would have been exactly the same4 ,the destiny of civilizations is not a matter of chance2 it does not depend on the toss of a coin4 ,it is only men who are killed by the sword2 and when the most redoubtable1 warlike1 and successful nations have nothing but valour in their hearts1 military science in their heads1 and the laurels of victory in their hands1 without any thought that rises above mere conquest1 they always end merely by learning1 and learning badly1 from those they have conquered1 how to live in time of peace4 ,the annals of the ,celts and the ,nomadic hordes of ,asia tell no other tale than this4 ,i have now given a meaning to the word degeneration2 and so have been able to attack the problem of a nation's vitality4 ,i must next proceed to prove what for the sake of clearness ,i have had to put forward as a mere hypothesis2 namely1 that there are real differences in the relative value of human races4 ,the consequences of proving this will be considerable1 and cover a wide field4 ,but first ,i must lay a foundation of fact and argument capable of holding up such a vast building2 and the foundation cannot be too complete4 ,the question with which ,i have just been dealing was only the gateway of the temple4 ,,chapter ,v ,,racial ,,inequality ,,is ,,not ,,the ,,result ,,of ,,institutions ,the idea of an original1 clear-cut1 and permanent inequality among the different races is one of the oldest and most widely held opinions in the world4 ,we need not be surprised at this1 when we consider the isolation of primitive tribes and communities1 and how in the early ages they all used to 8retire into their shell02 a great number have never left this stage4 ,except in quite modern times1 this idea has been the basis of nearly all theories of government4 ,every people1 great or small1 has begun by making inequality its chief political motto4 ,this is the origin of all systems of caste1 of nobility1 and of aristocracy1 in so far as the last is founded on the right of birth4 ,the law of primogeniture1 which assumes the pre-eminence of the first born and his descendants1 is merely a corollary of the same principle4 ,with it go the repulsion felt for the foreigner and the superiority which every nation claims for itself with regard to its neighbours4 ,as soon as the isolated groups have begun to intermingle and to become one people1 they grow great and civilized1 and look at each other in a more favourable light1 as one finds the other useful4 ,then1 and only then1 do we see the absolute principle of the inequality1 and hence the mutual hostility1 of races questioned and undermined4 ,finally1 when the majority of the citizens have mixed blood flowing in their veins1 they erect into a universal and absolute truth what is only true for themselves1 and feel it to be their duty to assert that all men are equal4 ,they are also moved by praiseworthy dislike of oppression1 a legitimate hatred towards the abuse of power2 to all thinking men these cast an ugly shadow on the memory of races which have once been dominant1 and which have never failed 7for such is the way of the world7 to justify to some extent many of the charges that have been brought against them4 ,from mere declamation against tyranny1 men go on to deny the natural causes of the superiority against which they are declaiming4 ,the tyrant's power is1 to them1 not only misused1 but usurped4 ,they refuse1 quite wrongly1 to admit that certain qualities are by a fatal necessity the exclusive inheritance of such and such a stock4 ,in fact1 the more heterogeneous the elements of which a people is composed1 the more complacently does it assert that the most different powers are1 or can be1 possessed in the same measure by every fraction of the human race1 without exception4 ,this theory is barely applicable to these hybrid philosophers themselves2 but they extend it to cover all the generations which were1 are1 and ever shall be on the earth4 ,they end one day by summing up their views in the words which1 like the bag of olus1 contain so many storms--8,all men are brothers40#ae ,this is the political axiom4 ,would you like to hear it in its scientific form8 8,all men10 say the defenders of human equality1 8are furnished with similar intellectual powers1 of the same nature1 of the same value1 of the same compass40 ,these are not perhaps their exact words1 but they certainly give the right meaning4 ,so the brain of the ,huron ,indian contains in an undeveloped form an intellect which is absolutely the same as that of the ,englishman or the ,frenchman6 ,why then1 in the course of the ages1 has he not invented printing or steam-power8 ,i should be quite justified in asking our ,huron why1 if he is equal to our ,european peoples1 his tribe has never produced a ,csar or a ,charlemagne among its warriors1 and why his bards and sorcerers have1 in some inexplicable way1 neglected to become ,homers and ,galens4 ,the difficulty is usually met by the blessed phrase1 8the predominating influence of environment40 ,according to this doctrine1 an island will not see the same miracles of civilization as a continent1 the same people will be different in the north from what it is in the south1 forests will not allow of developments which are favoured by open country4 ,what else8 the humidity of a marsh1 ,i suppose1 will produce a civilization which would inevitably have been stifled by the dryness of the ,sahara6 ,however ingenious these little hypotheses may be1 the testimony of fact is against them4 ,in spite of wind and rain1 cold and heat1 sterility and fruitfulness1 the world has seen barbarism and civilization flourishing everywhere1 one after the other1 on the same soil4 ,the brutish fellah is tanned by the same sun as scorched the powerful priest of ,memphis2 the learned professor of ,berlin lectures under the same inclement sky that once beheld the wretched existence of the ,finnish savage4 ,the curious point is that the theory of equality1 which is held by the majority of men and so has permeated our customs and institutions1 has not been powerful enough to overthrow the evidence against it2 and those who are most convinced of its truth pay homage every day to its opposite4 ,no one at any time refuses to admit that there are great differences between nations1 and the ordinary speech of men1 with a nave inconsistency1 confesses the fact4 ,in this it is merely imitating the practice of other ages which were not less convinced than we are--and for the same reason--of the absolute equality of races4 ,while clinging to the liberal dogma of human brotherhood1 every nation has always managed to add to the names of others certain qualifications and epithets that suggest their unlikeness from itself4 ,the ,roman of ,italy called the ,grco-,roman a ,grculus1 or 8little ,greek10 and gave him the monopoly of cowardice and empty chatter4 ,he ridiculed the ,carthaginian settler1 and pretended to be able to pick him out among a thousand for his litigious character and his want of faith4 ,the ,alexandrians were held to be witty1 insolent1 and seditious4 ,in the ,middle ,ages1 the ,anglo-,norman kings accused their ,french subjects of lightness and inconstancy4 ,to-day1 every one talks of the 8national characteristics0 of the ,german1 the ,spaniard1 the ,englishman1 and the ,russian4 ,i am not asking whether the judgments are true or not4 ,my sole point is that they exist1 and are adopted in ordinary speech4 ,thus1 if on the one hand human societies are called equal1 and on the other we find some of them frivolous1 others serious2 some avaricious1 others thriftless2 some passionately fond of fighting1 others careful of their lives and energies2--it stands to reason that these differing nations must have destinies which are also absolutely different1 and1 in a word1 unequal4 ,the stronger will play the parts of kings and rulers in the tragedy of the world4 ,the weaker will be content with a more humble position4 ,i do not think that the usual idea of a national character for each people has yet been reconciled with the belief1 which is just as widely held1 that all peoples are equal4 ,yet the contradiction is striking and flagrant1 and all the more serious because the most ardent democrats are the first to claim superiority for the ,anglo-,saxons of ,north ,america over all the nations of the same continent4 ,it is true that they ascribe the high position of their favourites merely to their political constitution4 ,but1 so far as ,i know1 they do not deny that the countrymen of ,penn and ,washington1 are1 as a nation1 peculiarly prone to set up liberal institutions in all their places of settlement1 and1 what is more1 to keep them going4 ,is not this very tenacity a wonderful characteristic of this branch of the human race1 and the more precious because most of the societies which have existed1 or still exist1 in the world seem to be without it8 ,i do not flatter myself that ,i shall be able to enjoy this inconsistency without opposition4 ,the friends of equality will no doubt talk very loudly1 at this point1 about 8the power of customs and institutions40 ,they will tell me once more how powerfully the health and growth of a nation are influenced by 8the essential quality of a government1 taken by itself10 or 8the fact of despotism or liberty40 ,but it is just at this point that ,i too shall oppose their arguments4 ,political institutions have only two possible sources4 ,they either come directly from the nation which has to live under them1 or they are invented by a powerful people and imposed on all the ,states that fall within its sphere of influence4 ,there is no difficulty in the first hypothesis4 ,a people obviously adapts its institutions to its wants and instincts2 and will beware of laying down any rule which may thwart the one or the other4 ,if1 by some lack of skill or care1 such a rule is laid down1 the consequent feeling of discomfort leads the people to amend its laws1 and put them into more perfect harmony with their express objects4 ,in every autonomous ,state1 the laws1 we may say1 always emanate from the people2 not generally because it has a direct power of making them1 but because1 in order to be good laws1 they must be based upon the people's point of view1 and be such as it might have thought out for itself1 if it had been better informed4 ,if some wise law-giver seems1 at first sight1 the sole source of some piece of legislation1 a nearer view will show that his very wisdom has led him merely to give out the oracles that have been dictated by his nation4 ,if he is a judicious man1 like ,lycurgus1 he will prescribe nothing that the ,dorian of ,sparta could not accept4 ,if he is a mere doctrinaire1 like ,draco1 he will draw up a code that will soon be amended or repealed by the ,ionian of ,athens1 who1 like all the children of ,adam1 is incapable of living for long under laws that are foreign to the natural tendencies of his real self4 ,the entrance of a man of genius into this great business of law-making is merely a special manifestation of the enlightened will of the people2 if the laws simply fulfilled the fantastic dreams of one individual1 they could not rule any people for long4 ,we cannot admit that the institutions thus invented and moulded by a race of men make that race what it is4 ,they are effects1 not causes4 ,their influence is1 of course1 very great2 they preserve the special genius of the nation1 they mark out the road on which it is to travel1 the end at which it must aim4 ,to a certain extent1 they are the hothouse where its instincts develop1 the armoury that furnishes its best weapons for action4 ,but they do not create their creator2 and though they may be a powerful element in his success by helping on the growth of his innate qualities1 they will fail miserably whenever they attempt to alter these1 or to extend them beyond their natural limits4 ,in a word1 they cannot achieve the impossible4 ,ill-fitting institutions1 however1 together with their consequences1 have played a great part in the world4 ,when ,charles ,i1 by the evil counsels of the ,earl of ,strafford1 wished to force absolute monarchy on the ,english1 the ,king and his minister were walking on the blood-stained morass of political theory4 ,when the ,calvinists dreamed of bringing the ,french under a government that was at once aristocratic and republican1 they were just as far away from the right road4 ,when the ,regent#af tried to join hands with the nobles who were conquered in #afeb1 and to carry on the government by intrigue1 as the co-adjutor and his friends had desired1#ag her efforts pleased nobody1 and offended equally the nobility1 the clergy1 the ,parliament1 and the ,third ,estate4 ,only a few tax-farmers were pleased4 ,but when ,ferdinand the ,catholic promulgated against the ,moors of ,spain his terrible1 though necessary1 measures of destruction2 when ,napoleon re-established religion in ,france1 flattered the military spirit1 and organized his power in such a way as to protect his subjects while coercing them1 both these sovereigns1 having studied and understood the special character of their people1 were building their house upon a rock4 ,in fact1 bad institutions are those which1 however well they look on paper1 are not in harmony with the national qualities or caprices1 and so do not suit a particular ,state1 though they might be very successful in the neighbouring country4 ,they would bring only anarchy and disorder1 even if they were taken from the statute-book of the angels4 ,on the contrary1 other institutions are good for the opposite reason1 though they might be condemned1 from a particular point of view or even absolutely1 by the political philosopher or the moralist4 ,the ,spartans were small in number1 of high courage1 ambitious1 and violent4 ,ill-fitting laws might have turned them into a mere set of pettifogging knaves2 ,lycurgus made them a nation of heroic brigands4 ,there is no doubt about it4 ,as the people is born before the laws1 the laws take after the people2 and receive from it the stamp which they are afterwards to impress in their turn4 ,the changes made in institutions by the lapse of time are a great proof of what ,i say4 ,i have already mentioned that as nations become greater1 more powerful1 and more civilized1 their blood loses its purity and their instincts are gradually altered4 ,as a result1 it becomes impossible for them to live happily under the laws that suited their ancestors4 ,new generations have new customs and tendencies1 and profound changes in the institutions are not slow to follow4 ,these are more frequent and far-reaching in proportion as the race itself is changed2 while they are rarer1 and more gradual1 so long as the people is more nearly akin to the first founders of the ,state4 ,in ,england1 where modifications of the stock have been slower and1 up to now1 less varied than in any other ,european country1 we still see the institutions of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries forming the base of the social structure4 ,we find there1 almost in its first vigour1 the communal organization of the ,plantagenets and the ,tudors1 the same method of giving the nobility a share in the government1 the same gradations of rank in this nobility1 the same respect for old families tempered with the same love of low-born merit4 ,since ,james ,i1 however1 and especially since the ,union under ,queen ,anne1 the ,english blood has been more and more prone to mingle with that of the ,scotch and ,irish1 while other nations have also helped1 by imperceptible degrees1 to modify its purity4 ,the result is that innovations have been more frequent in our time than ever before1 though they have always remained fairly faithful to the spirit of the original constitution4 ,in ,france1 intermixture of race has been far more common and varied4 ,in some cases1 by a sudden turn of the wheel1 power has even passed from one race to another4 ,further1 on the social side1 there have been complete changes rather than modifications1 and these were more or less far-reaching1 as the groups that successively held the chief power were more or less different4 ,while the north of ,france was the preponderating element in national politics1 feudalism--or rather a degenerate parody of feudalism--maintained itself with fair success2 and the municipal spirit followed its fortunes4 ,after the expulsion of the ,english1 in the fifteenth century1 and the restoration of national independence under ,charles ,,vii1 the central provinces1 which had taken the chief part in this revolution and were far less ,germanic in race than the districts beyond the ,loire1 naturally saw their ,gallo-,roman blood predominant in the camp and the council-chamber4 ,they combined the taste for military life and foreign conquest--the heritage of the ,celtic race--with the love of authority that was innate in their ,roman blood2 and they turned the current of national feeling in this direction4 ,during the sixteenth century they largely prepared the ground on which1 in #aeii1 the ,aquitanian supporters of ,henry ,,iv1 less ,celtic though still more ,roman than themselves1 laid the foundation stone of another and greater edifice of absolute power4 ,when ,paris1 whose population is certainly a museum of the most varied ethnological specimens1 had finally gained dominion over the rest of ,france owing to the centralizing policy favoured by the ,southern character1 it had no longer any reason to love1 respect1 or understand any particular tendency or tradition4 ,this great capital1 this ,tower of ,babel1 broke with the past--the past of ,flanders1 ,poitou1 and ,languedoc--and dragged the whole of ,france into ceaseless experiments with doctrines that were quite out of harmony with its ancient customs4 ,we cannot therefore admit that institutions make peoples what they are in cases where the peoples themselves have invented the institutions4 ,but may we say the same of the second hypothesis1 which deals with cases where a nation receives its code from the hands of foreigners powerful enough to enforce their will1 whether the people like it or not8 ,there are a few cases of such attempts2 but ,i confess ,i cannot find any which have been carried out on a great scale by governments of real political genius in ancient or modern times4 ,their wisdom has never been used to change the actual foundations of any great national system4 ,the ,romans were too clever to try such dangerous experiments4 ,alexander the ,great had never done so2 and the successors of ,augustus1 like the conqueror of ,darius1 were content to rule over a vast mosaic of nations1 all of which clung to their own customs1 habits1 laws1 and methods of government4 ,so long as they and their fellow-subjects remained racially the same1 they were controlled by their rulers only in matters of taxation and military defence4 ,there is1 however1 one point that must not be passed over4 ,many of the peoples subdued by the ,romans had certain features in their codes so outrageous that their existence could not be tolerated by ,roman sentiment2 for example1 the human sacrifices of the ,druids1 which were visited with the severest penalties4 ,well1 the ,romans1 for all their power1 never succeeded in completely stamping out these barbarous rites4 ,in ,narbonese ,gaul the victory was easy1 as the native population had been almost entirely replaced by ,roman colonists4 ,but in the centre1 where the tribes were wilder1 the resistance was more obstinate2 and in the ,breton ,peninsula1 where settlers from ,england in the fourth century brought back the ancient customs with the ancient blood1 the people continued1 from mere feelings of patriotism and love of tradition1 to cut men's throats on their altars as often as they dared4 ,the strictest supervision did not succeed in taking the sacred knife and torch out of their hands4 ,every revolt began by restoring this terrible feature of the national cult2 and ,christianity1 still panting with rage after its victory over an immoral polytheism1 hurled itself with shuddering horror against the still more hideous superstitions of the ,armorici4 ,it destroyed them only after a long struggle2 for as late as the seventeenth century shipwrecked sailors were massacred and wrecks plundered in all the parishes on the seaboard where the ,cymric blood had kept its purity4 ,these barbarous customs were in accordance with the irresistible instincts of a race which had not yet become sufficiently mixed1 and so had seen no reason to change its ways4 ,it is1 however1 in modern times especially that we find examples of institutions imposed by a conqueror and not accepted by his subjects4 ,intolerance is one of the chief notes of ,european civilization4 ,conscious of its own power and greatness1 it finds itself confronted either by different civilizations or by peoples in a state of barbarism4 ,it treats both kinds with equal contempt2 and as it sees obstacles to its own progress in everything that is different from itself1 it is apt to demand a complete change in its subjects' point of view4 ,the ,spaniards1 however1 the ,english1 the ,dutch1 and even the ,french1 did not venture to push their innovating tendencies too far1 when the conquered peoples were at all considerable in number4 ,in this they copied the moderation that was forced on the conquerors of antiquity4 ,the ,east1 and ,north and ,west ,africa1 show clear proof that the most enlightened nations cannot set up institutions unsuited to the character of their subjects4 ,i have already mentioned that ,british ,india lives its ancient life1 under its own immemorial laws4 ,the ,javanese have lost all political independence1 but are very far from accepting any institutions like those of the ,netherlands4 ,they continue to live bound as they lived free2 and since the sixteenth century1 when ,europe first turned her face towards the ,east1 we cannot find the least trace of any moral influence exerted by her1 even in the case of the peoples she has most completely conquered4 ,not all these1 however1 have been so numerous as to force self-control on their ,european masters4 ,in some cases the persuasive tongue has been backed by the stern argument of the sword4 ,the order has gone forth to abolish existing customs1 and put in their place others which the masters knew to be good and useful4 ,has the attempt ever succeeded8 ,america provides us with the richest field for gathering answers to this question4 ,in the ,south1 the ,spaniards reigned without check1 and to what end8 ,they uprooted the ancient empires1 but brought no light4 ,they founded no race like themselves4 ,in the ,north the methods were different1 but the results just as negative4 ,in fact1 they have been still more unfruitful1 still more disastrous from the point of view of humanity4 ,the ,spanish ,indians1 are1 at any rate1 extremely prolific1#ah and have even transformed the blood of their conquerors1 who have now dropped to their level4 ,but the ,redskins of the ,united ,states have withered at the touch of the ,anglo-,saxon energy4 ,the few who remain are growing less every day2 and those few are as uncivilized1 and as incapable of civilization1 as their forefathers4 ,in ,oceania1 the facts point to the same conclusions2 the natives are dying out everywhere4 ,we sometimes manage to take away their arms1 and prevent them from doing harm2 but we do not change their nature4 ,wherever the ,european rules1 they drink brandy instead of eating each other4 ,this is the only new custom which our active minds have been quite successful in imposing2 it does not mark a great step in advance4 ,there are in the world two ,governments formed on ,european models by peoples different from us in race2 one in the ,sandwich ,islands1 the other at ,san ,domingo4 ,a short sketch of these two ,governments will be enough to show the impotence of all attempts to set up institutions which are not suggested by the national character4 ,in the ,sandwich ,islands the representative system is to be seen in all its majesty4 ,there is a ,house of ,lords1 a ,house of ,commons1 an executive ,ministry1 a reigning ,king2 nothing is wanting4 ,but all this is mere ornament4 ,the real motive power that keeps the machine going is a body of ,protestant missionaries4 ,without them1 ,king1 ,lords1 and ,commons would not know which way to turn1 and would soon cease to turn at all4 ,to the missionaries alone belongs the credit of furnishing the ideas1 of putting them into a palatable form1 and imposing them on the people2 they do this either by the influence they exert on their neophytes1 or1 in the last resort1 by threats4 ,even so1 ,i rather think that if the missionaries had nothing but ,king and ,parliament to work with1 they might struggle for a time with the stupidity of their scholars1 but would be forced in the end to take themselves a large and prominent part in the management of affairs4 ,this would show their hand too obviously2 and so they avoid it by appointing a ministry that consists simply of men of ,european race4 ,the whole business is thus a matter of agreement between the ,protestant mission and its nominees2 the rest is merely for show4 ,as to the ,king1 ,kamehameha ,,iii1 he appears to be a prince of considerable parts4 ,he has given up tattooing his face1 and although he has not yet converted all the courtiers to his views1 he already experiences the well-earned satisfaction of seeing nothing on their faces and cheeks but chaste designs1 traced in thin outline4 ,the bulk of the nation1 the landed nobility and the townspeople1 cling1 in this and other respects1 to their old ideas4 ,the ,european population of the ,sandwich ,islands is1 however1 swollen every day by new arrivals4 ,there are many reasons for this4 ,the short distance separating the ,hawaiian ,kingdom from ,california makes it a very interesting focus for the clear-sighted energy of the white race4 ,deserters from the whaling vessels or mutinous sailors are not the only colonists2 merchants1 speculators1 adventurers of all kinds1 flock to the islands1 build houses1 and settle down4 ,the native race is gradually tending to mix with the invaders and disappear4 ,i am not sure that the present representative and independent system of administration will not soon give place to an ordinary government of delegates1 controlled by some great power4 ,but of this ,i am certain1 that the institutions that are brought in will end by establishing themselves firmly1 and the first day of their triumph will necessarily be the last for the natives4 ,at ,san ,domingo the independence is complete4 ,there are no missionaries to exert a veiled and absolute power1 no foreign ministry to carry out ,european ideas2 everything is left to the inspiration of the people itself4 ,its ,spanish part consists of mulattoes1 of whom ,i need say nothing4 ,they seem to imitate1 well or badly1 all that is most easily grasped in our civilization4 ,they tend1 like all hybrids1 to identify themselves with the more creditable of the races to which they belong4 ,thus they are capable1 to a certain extent1 of reproducing our customs4 ,it is not among them that we must study the question in its essence4 ,let us cross the mountains that separate the ,republic of ,san ,domingo from the ,state of ,hayti4 ,we find a society of which the institutions are not only parallel to our own1 but are derived from the latest pronouncements of our political wisdom4 ,all that the most enlightened liberalism has proclaimed for the last sixty years in the deliberative assemblies of ,europe1 all that has been written by the most enthusiastic champions of man's dignity and independence1 all the declarations of rights and principles--these have all found their echo on the banks of the ,artibonite4 ,nothing ,african has remained in the statute law4 ,all memories of the land of ,ham have been officially expunged from men's minds4 ,the ,state language has never shown a trace of ,african influence4 ,the institutions1 as ,i said before1 are completely ,european4 ,let us consider how they harmonize with the manners of the people4 ,we are in a different world at once4 ,the manners are as depraved1 brutal1 and savage as in ,dahomey or among the ,fellatahs4#ai ,there is the same barbaric love of finery coupled with the same indifference to form4 ,beauty consists in colour1 and so long as a garment is of flaming red and edged with tinsel1 the owner does not trouble about its being largely in holes4 ,the question of cleanliness never enters anyone's head4 ,if you wish to approach a high official in this country1 you find yourself being introduced to a gigantic negro lying on his back1 on a wooden bench4 ,his head is enveloped in a torn and dirty handkerchief1 surmounted by a cocked hat1 all over gold lace4 ,an immense sword hangs from his shapeless body4 ,his embroidered coat lacks the final perfection of a waistcoat4 ,our general's feet are cased in carpet slippers4 ,do you wish to question him1 to penetrate his mind1 and learn the nature of the ideas he is revolving there8 ,you will find him as uncultured as a savage1 and his bestial self-satisfaction is only equalled by his profound and incurable laziness4 ,if he deigns to open his mouth1 he will roll you out all the commonplaces which the newspapers have been inflicting on us for the last half-century4 ,the barbarian knows them all by heart4 ,he has other interests1 of course1 and very different interests2 but no other ideas4 ,he speaks like ,baron ,holbach1 argues like ,monsieur de ,grimm1 and has ultimately no serious preoccupation except chewing tobacco1 drinking alcohol1 disembowelling his enemies1 and conciliating his sorcerers4 ,the rest of the time he sleeps4 ,the ,state is divided among two factions4 ,these are separated from each other by a certain incompatibility1 not of political theory1 but of skin4 ,the mulattoes are on one side1 the negroes on the other4 ,the former have certainly more intelligence and are more open to ideas4 ,as ,i have already remarked in the case of ,san ,domingo1 the ,european blood has modified the ,african character4 ,if these men were set in the midst of a large white population1 and so had good models constantly before their eyes1 they might become quite useful citizens4 ,unfortunately the negroes are for the time being superior in strength and numbers4 ,although their racial memory of ,africa has its origin1 in many cases1 as far back as their grandfathers1 they are still completely under the sway of ,african ideals4 ,their greatest pleasure is idleness2 their most cogent argument is murder4 ,the most intense hatred has always existed between the two parties in the island4 ,the history of ,hayti1 of democratic ,hayti1 is merely a long series of massacres2 massacres of mulattoes by negroes1 or of negroes by mulattoes1 according as the one or the other held the reins of power4 ,the constitution1 however enlightened it may pretend to be1 has no influence whatever4 ,it sleeps harmlessly upon the paper on which it is written4 ,the power that reigns unchecked is the true spirit of these peoples4 ,according to the natural law already mentioned1 the black race1 belonging as it does to a branch of the human family that is incapable of civilization1 cherishes the deepest feelings of repulsion towards all the others4 ,thus we see the negroes of ,hayti violently driving out the whites and forbidding them to enter their territory4 ,they would like to exclude even the mulattoes2 and they aim at their extermination4 ,hatred of the foreigner is the mainspring of local politics4 ,owing1 further1 to the innate laziness of the race1 agriculture is abolished1 industry is not even mentioned1 commerce becomes less every day4 ,the hideous increase of misery prevents the growth of population1 which is actually being diminished by the continual wars1 revolts1 and military executions4 ,the inevitable result is not far off4 ,a country of which the fertility and natural resources used to enrich generation after generation of planters will become a desert2 and the wild goat will roam alone over the fruitful plains1 the magnificent valleys1 the sublime mountains1 of the ,queen of the ,antilles4#bj ,let us suppose for a moment that the peoples of this unhappy island could manage to live in accordance with the spirit of their several races4 ,in such a case they would not be influenced1 and so 7of course7 overshadowed by foreign theories1 but would found their society in free obedience to their own instincts4 ,a separation between the two colours would take place1 more or less spontaneously1 though certainly not without some acts of violence4 ,the mulattoes would settle on the seaboard1 in order to keep continually in touch with ,europeans4 ,this is their chief wish4 ,under ,european direction they would become merchants 7and especially money-brokers71 lawyers1 and physicians4 ,they would tighten the links with the higher elements of their race by a continual crossing of blood2 they would be gradually improved and lose their ,african character in the same proportion as their ,african blood4 ,the negroes would withdraw to the interior and form small societies like those of the runaway slaves in ,san ,domingo itself1 in ,martinique1 ,jamaica1 and especially in ,cuba1 where the size of the country and the depth of the forests baffle all pursuit4 ,amid the varied and tropical vegetation of the ,antilles1 the ,american negro would find the necessities of life yielded him in abundance and without labour by the fruitful earth4 ,he would return quite freely to the despotic1 patriarchal system that is naturally suited to those of his brethren on whom the conquering ,mussulmans of ,africa have not yet laid their yoke4 ,the love of isolation would be at once the cause and the result of his institutions4 ,tribes would be formed1 and become1 at the end of a short time1 foreign and hostile to each other4 ,local wars would constitute the sole political history of the different cantons2 and the island1 though it would be wild1 thinly peopled1 and ill-cultivated1 would yet maintain a double population4 ,this is now condemned to disappear1 owing to the fatal influence wielded by laws and institutions that have no relation to the mind of the negro1 his interests1 and his wants4 ,the examples of ,san ,domingo and the ,sandwich ,islands are conclusive4 ,but ,i cannot leave this part of my subject without touching on a similar instance1 of a peculiar character1 which strongly supports my view4 ,i cited first a ,state where the institutions1 imposed by ,protestant preachers1 are a mere childish copy of the ,british system4 ,i then spoke of a government1 materially free1 but spiritually bound by ,european theories2 which it tries to carry out1 with fatal consequences for the unhappy population4 ,i will now bring forward an instance of quite a different kind2 ,i mean the attempt of the ,jesuits to civilize the natives of ,paraguay4#ba ,these missionaries have been universally praised for their fine courage and lofty intelligence4 ,the bitterest enemies of the ,order have not been able to withhold a warm tribute of admiration for them4 ,if any institutions imposed on a nation from without ever had a chance of success1 it was certainly those of the ,jesuits1 based as they were on a powerful religious sentiment1 and supported by all the links of association that could be devised by an exact and subtle knowledge of human nature4 ,the ,fathers were persuaded1 as so many others have been1 that barbarism occupies the same place in the life of peoples as infancy does in the life of a man2 and that the more rudeness and savagery a nation shows1 the younger it really is4 ,in order1 then1 to bring their neophytes to the adult stage1 they treated them like children1 and gave them a despotic government1 which was as unyielding in its real aims1 as it was mild and gracious in its outward appearance4 ,the savage tribes of ,america have1 as a rule1 democratic tendencies2 monarchy and aristocracy are rarely seen among them1 and then only in a very limited form4 ,the natural character of the ,guaranis1 among whom the ,jesuits came1 did not differ in this respect from that of the other tribes4 ,happily1 however1 their intelligence was relatively higher1 and their ferocity perhaps a little less1 than was the case with most of their neighbours2 they had1 too1 in some degree1 the power of conceiving new needs4 ,about a hundred and twenty thousand souls were collected together in the mission villages1 under the control of the ,fathers4 ,all that experience1 unremitting study1 and the living spirit of charity had taught the ,jesuits1 was now drawn upon2 they made untiring efforts to secure a quick1 though lasting1 success4 ,in spite of all their care1 they found that their absolute power was not sufficient to keep their scholars on the right road1 and they had frequent proofs of the want of solidity in the whole structure4 ,the proof was complete1 when in an evil hour the edict of the ,count of ,aranda ended the reign of piety and intelligence in ,paraguay4 ,the ,guaranis1 deprived of their spiritual guides1 refused to trust the laymen set over them by the ,crown of ,spain4 ,they showed no attachment to their new institutions4 ,they felt once more the call of the savage life1 and to-day1 with the exception of thirty-seven straggling little villages on the banks of the ,parana1 the ,paraguay1 and the ,uruguay--villages in which the population is1 no doubt1 partly hybrid--the rest of the tribes have returned to the woods1 and live there in just as wild a state as the western tribes of the same stock1 ,guaranis and ,cirionos4 ,i do not say that they keep all the old customs in their original form1 but at any rate their present ones show an attempt to revive the ancient practices1 and are directly descended from them2 for no human race can be unfaithful to its instincts1 and leave the path that has been marked out for it by ,god4 ,we may believe that if the ,jesuits had continued to direct their missions in ,paraguay1 their efforts would1 in the course of time1 have had better results4 ,i admit it2 but1 in accordance with our universal law1 this could only have happened on one condition--that a series of ,european settlements should have been gradually made in the country under the protection of the ,jesuits4 ,these settlers would have mingled with the natives1 have first modified and then completely changed their blood4 ,a ,state would have arisen1 bearing perhaps a native name and boasting that it had sprung from the soil2 but it would actually have been as ,european as its own institutions4 ,this is the end of my argument as to the relation between institutions and races4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,nations1 ,,whether ,,progressing ,,or ,,stagnating1 ,,are ,,independent ,,of ,,the ,,regions ,,in ,,which ,,they ,,live ,i must now consider whether the development of peoples is affected 7as many writers have asserted7 by climate1 soil1 or geographical situation4 ,and although ,i have briefly touched on this point in speaking of environment1#bb ,i should be leaving a real gap in my theory if ,i did not discuss it more thoroughly4 ,suppose that a nation lives in a temperate climate1 which is not hot enough to sap its energies1 or cold enough to make the soil unproductive2 that its territory contains large rivers1 wide roads suitable for traffic1 plains and valleys capable of varied cultivation1 and mountains filled with rich veins of ore--we are usually led to believe that a nation so favoured by nature will be quick to leave the stage of barbarism1 and will pass1 with no difficulty1 to that of civilization4#bc ,we are just as ready to admit1 as a corollary1 that the tribes which are burnt by the sun or numbed by the eternal ice will be much more liable to remain in a savage state1 living as they do on nothing but barren rocks4 ,it goes without saying1 that on this hypothesis1 mankind is capable of perfection only by the help of material nature1 and that its value and greatness exist potentially outside itself4 ,this view may seem attractive at first sight1 but it has no support whatever from the facts of observation4 ,nowhere is the soil more fertile1 the climate milder1 than in certain parts of ,america4 ,there is an abundance of great rivers4 ,the gulfs1 the bays1 the harbours1 are large1 deep1 magnificent1 and innumerable4 ,precious metals can be dug out almost at the surface of the ground4 ,the vegetable world yields in abundance1 and almost of its own accord1 the necessaries of life in the most varied forms2 while the animals1 most of which are good for food1 are a still more valuable source of wealth4 ,and yet the greater part of this happy land has been occupied1 for centuries1 by peoples who have not succeeded1 to the slightest extent1 in exploiting their treasures4 ,some have started on the road to improvement4 ,in more than one place we come upon an attenuated kind of culture1 a rudimentary attempt to extract the minerals4 ,the traveller may still1 to his surprise1 find a few useful arts being practised with a certain ingenuity4 ,but all these efforts are very humble and uncoordinated2 they are certainly not the beginnings of any definite civilization4 ,in the vast territory between ,lake ,erie and the ,gulf of ,mexico1 the ,river ,missouri and the ,rocky ,mountains1#bd there certainly existed1 in remote ages1 a nation which has left remarkable traces of its presence4 ,the remains of buildings1 the inscriptions engraved on rocks1 the tumuli1#be the mummies1 show that it had reached an advanced state of mental culture4 ,but there is nothing to prove a very close kinship between this mysterious people and the tribes that now wander over its tombs4 ,suppose1 if you will1 that there was some relation between them1 whether by way of blood or of slavery1 and that thus the natives of to-day did learn from the ancient lords of the country1 the first rudiments of the arts they practise so imperfectly2 this only makes us wonder the more that they should have found it impossible to carry any further what they had been taught4 ,in fact1 this would supply one more reason for my belief that not every people would be capable of civilization1 even if it chose the most favoured spot on earth as its settlement4 ,indeed1 civilization is quite independent of climate and soil1 and their adaptability to man's wants4 ,india and ,egypt are both countries which have had to be artificially fertilized2#bf yet they are famous centres of human culture and development4 ,in ,china1 certain regions are naturally fertile2 but others have needed great labour to fit them for cultivation4 ,chinese history begins with the conquest of the rivers4 ,the first benefits conferred by the ancient ,emperors were the opening of canals and the draining of marshes4 ,in the country between the ,euphrates and the ,tigris1 that beheld the splendour of the first ,assyrian empire1 and is the majestic scene of our most sacred recollections--in this region1 where wheat is said to grow of its own accord1#bg the soil is naturally so unproductive that vast works of irrigation1 carried out in the teeth of every difficulty1 have been needed to make it a fit abode for man4 ,now that the canals are destroyed or filled up1 sterility has resumed its ancient reign4 ,i am therefore inclined to believe that nature did not favour these regions as much as we are apt to think4 ,but ,i will not discuss the point4 ,i will grant1 if you like1 that ,china1 ,egypt1 ,india1 and ,assyria1 contained all the conditions of prosperity1 and were eminently suited for the founding of powerful empires and the development of great civilizations4 ,but1 we must also admit1 these conditions were of such a kind that1 in order to receive any benefit from them the inhabitants must have reached beforehand1 by other means1 a high stage of social culture4 ,thus1 for the commerce to be able to make use of the great waterways1 manufactures1 or at any rate agriculture1 must have already existed2 again1 neighbouring peoples would not have been attracted to these great centres before towns and markets had grown up and prospered4 ,thus the great natural advantages of ,china1 ,india1 and ,assyria1 imply not only a considerable mental power on the part of the nations that profited by them1 but even a civilization going back beyond the day when these advantages began to be exploited4 ,we will now leave these specially favoured regions1 and consider others4 ,when the ,phnicians1 in the course of their migration1 left ,tylos1 or some other island in the south-east1 and settled in a portion of ,syria1 what did they find in their new home8 ,a desert and rocky coast1 forming a narrow strip of land between the sea and a range of cliffs that seemed to be cursed with everlasting barrenness4 ,there was no room for expansion in such a place1 for the girdle of mountains was unbroken on all sides4 ,and yet this wretched country1 which should have been a prison1 became1 thanks to the industry of its inhabitants1 a crown studded with temples and palaces4 ,the ,phnicians1 who seemed for ever condemned to be a set of fish-eating barbarians1 or at most a miserable crew of pirates1 were1 as a fact1 pirates on a grand scale2 they were also clever and enterprising merchants1 bold and lucky speculators4 8,yes10 it may be objected1 8necessity is the mother of invention2 if the founders of ,tyre and ,sidon had settled in the plains of ,damascus1 they would have been content to live by agriculture1 and would probably have never become a famous nation4 ,misery sharpened their wits1 and awakened their genius40 ,then why does it not awaken the genius of all the tribes of ,africa1 ,america1 and ,oceania1 who find themselves in a similar condition8 ,the ,kabyles of ,morocco are an ancient race2 they have certainly had a long time for reflection1 and1 what is more striking still1 have had every reason to imitate the customs of their betters2 why then have they never thought of a more fruitful way of alleviating their wretchedness than mere brigandage on the high seas8 ,why1 in the ,indian archipelago1 which seems created for trade1 and in the ,pacific islands1 where intercommunication is so easy1 are nearly all the commercial advantages in the hands of foreigners--,chinese1 ,malays1 and ,arabs8 ,and where half-caste natives or other mixed races have been able to share in these advantages1 why has the trade at once fallen off8 ,why is the internal exchange of commodities carried on more and more by elementary methods of barter8 ,the fact is1 that for a commercial state to be established on any coast or island1 something more is necessary than an open sea1 and the pressure exerted by the barrenness of the land--something more1 even1 than the lessons learned from the experience of others2 the native of the coast or the island must be gifted with the special talent that alone can lead him to profit by the tools that lie to his hand1 and alone can point him the road to success4 ,it is not enough to show that a nation's value in the scale of civilization does not come from the fertility--or1 to be more precise1 the infertility--of the country where it happens to live4 ,i must also prove that this value is quite independent of all the material conditions of environment4 ,for example1 the ,armenians1 shut up in their mountains--the same mountains where1 for generations1 so many other peoples have lived and died in barbarism--had already reached a high stage of civilization in a very remote age4 ,yet their country was almost entirely cut off from others2 it had no communication with the sea1 and could boast of no great fertility4 ,the ,jews were in a similar position4 ,they were surrounded by tribes speaking the dialects of a language cognate with their own1 and for the most part closely connected with them in race2 yet they outdistanced all these tribes4 ,they became warriors1 farmers1 and traders4 ,their method of government was extremely complicated2 it was a mixture of monarchy and theocracy1 of patriarchal and democratic rule 7this last being represented by the assemblies and the prophets71 all in a curious equilibrium4 ,under this government they lived through long ages of prosperity and glory1 and by a scientific system of emigration they conquered the difficulties that were put in the way of their expansion by the narrow limits of their territory4 ,and what kind of territory was it8 ,modern travellers know what an amount of organized effort was required from the ,israelite farmers1 in order to keep up its artificial fertility4 ,since the chosen race ceased to dwell in the mountains and the plains of ,palestine1 the well where ,jacob's flocks came down to drink has been filled up with sand1 ,naboth's vineyard has been invaded by the desert1 and the bramble flourishes in the place where stood the palace of ,ahab4 ,and what did the ,jews become1 in this miserable corner of the earth8 ,they became a people that succeeded in everything it undertook1 a free1 strong1 and intelligent people1 and one which1 before it lost1 sword in hand1 the name of an independent nation1 had given as many learned men to the world as it had merchants4#bh ,the ,greeks themselves could not wholly congratulate themselves on their geographical position4 ,their country was a wretched one1 for the most part4 ,arcadia was beloved of shepherds1 ,botia claimed to be dear to ,demeter and ,triptolemus2 but ,arcadia and ,botia play a very minor part in ,greek history4 ,the rich and brilliant ,corinth itself1 favoured by ,plutus and ,aphrodite1 is in this respect only in the second rank4 ,to which city belongs the chief glory8 ,to ,athens1 where the fields and olive-groves were perpetually covered with grey dust1 and where statues and books were the main articles of commerce2 to ,sparta also1 a city buried in a narrow valley1 at the foot of a mass of rocks which ,victory had to cross to find her out4 ,and what of the miserable quarter of ,latium that was chosen for the foundation of ,rome8 ,the little river ,tiber1 on whose banks it lay1 flowed down to an almost unknown coast1 that no ,greek or ,phnician ship had ever touched1 save by chance2 was it through her situation that ,rome became the mistress of the world8 ,no sooner did the whole world lie at the feet of the ,roman eagles1 than the central government found that its capital was ill-placed2 and the long series of insults to the eternal city began4 ,the early emperors had their eyes turned towards ,greece1 and nearly always lived there4 ,when ,tiberius was in ,italy he stayed at ,capri1 a point facing the two halves of the empire4 ,his successors went to ,antioch4 ,some of them1 in view of the importance of ,gaul1 went as far north as ,treves4 ,finally1 an edict took away even the title of chief city from ,rome and conferred it on ,milan4 ,if the ,romans made some stir in the world1 it was certainly in spite of the position of the district from which their first armies issued forth4 ,coming down to modern history ,i am overwhelmed by the multitude of facts that support my theory4 ,i see prosperity suddenly leaving the ,mediterranean coasts1 a clear proof that it was not inseparably attached to them4 ,the great commercial cities of the ,middle ,ages grew up in places where no political philosopher of an earlier time would have thought of founding them4 ,novgorod rose in the midst of an ice-bound land2 ,bremen on a coast almost as cold4 ,the ,hanseatic towns in the centre of ,germany were built in regions plunged1 as it seemed1 in immemorial slumber4 ,venice emerged from a deep gulf in the ,adriatic4 ,the balance of political power was shifted to places scarcely heard of before1 but now gleaming with a new splendour4 ,in ,france the whole strength was concentrated to the north of the ,loire1 almost beyond the ,seine4 ,lyons1 ,toulouse1 ,narbonne1 ,marseilles1 and ,bordeaux fell from the high dignity to which they had been called by the ,romans4 ,it was ,paris that became the important city1 ,paris1 which was too far from the sea for purposes of trade1 and which would soon prove too near to escape the invasions of the ,norman pirates4 ,in ,italy1 towns formerly of the lowest rank became greater than the city of the ,popes4 ,ravenna rose from its marshes1 ,amalfi began its long career of power4 ,chance1 ,i may remark1 had no part in these changes1 which can all be explained by the presence1 at the given point1 of a victorious or powerful race4 ,in other words1 a nation does not derive its value from its position2 it never has and never will4 ,on the contrary1 it is the people which has always given--and always will give--to the land its moral1 economic1 and political value4 ,i add1 for the sake of clearness1 that ,i have no wish to deny the importance of geographical position for certain towns1 whether they are trade-centres1 ports1 or capitals4 ,the arguments that have been brought forward1#bi in the case of ,constantinople and especially of ,alexandria1 are indisputable4 ,there certainly exist different points which we may call 8the keys of the earth40 ,thus we may imagine that when the isthmus of ,panama is pierced1 the power holding the town that is yet to be built on the hypothetical canal1 might play a great part in the history of the world4 ,but this part will be played well1 badly1 or even not at all1 according to the intrinsic excellence of the people in question4 ,make ,chagres into a large city1 let the two seas meet under its walls1 and assume that you are free to fill it with what settlers you will4 ,your choice will finally determine the future of the new town4 ,suppose that ,chagres is not exactly in the best position to develop all the advantages coming from the junction of the two oceans2 then1 if the race is really worthy of its high calling1 it will remove to some other place where it may in perfect freedom work out its splendid destiny4#cj ,,chapter ,,vii ,,christianity ,,neither ,,creates ,,nor ,,changes ,,the ,,capacity ,,for ,,civilization ,after my arguments on the subject of institutions and climates1 ,i come to another1 which ,i should really have put before all the rest2 not that ,i think it stronger than they are1 but because the facts on which it is based naturally command our reverence4 ,if my conclusions in the preceding chapters are admitted1 two points become increasingly evident3 first1 that most human races are for ever incapable of civilization1 so long as they remain unmixed2 secondly1 that such races are not only without the inner impulse necessary to start them on the path of improvement1 but also that no external force1 however energetic in other respects1 is powerful enough to turn their congenital barrenness into fertility4 ,here we shall be asked1 no doubt1 whether the light of ,christianity is to shine in vain on entire nations1 and whether some peoples are doomed never to behold it at all4 ,some writers have answered in the affirmative4 ,they have not scrupled to contradict the promise of the ,gospel1 by denying the most characteristic feature of the new law1 which is precisely that of being accessible to all men4 ,their view merely restates the old formula of the ,hebrews1 to which it returns by a little larger gate than that of the ,old ,covenant2 but it returns all the same4 ,i have no desire to follow the champions of this idea1 which is condemned by the ,church1 nor have ,i the least difficulty in admitting that all human races are gifted with an equal capacity for being received into the bosom of the ,christian ,communion4 ,here there is no impediment arising from any original difference between races2 for this purpose their inequalities are of no account4 ,religions and their followers are not1 as has been assumed1 distributed in zones over the surface of the earth4 ,it is not true that ,christianity must rule from this meridian to that1 while from such and such a point ,islam takes up the sceptre1 holding it only as far as a certain impassable frontier1 and then having to deliver it into the hands of ,buddhism or ,brahmanism1 while the fetichists of the tribe of ,ham divide among themselves the rest of the world4 ,christians are found in all latitudes and all climates4 ,statistics1 inaccurate perhaps1 but still approximately true1 show us a vast number of them1 ,mongols wandering in the plains of ,upper ,asia1 savages hunting on the tableland of the ,cordilleras1 ,eskimos fishing in the ice of the ,arctic circle1 even ,chinese and ,japanese dying under the scourge of the persecutor4 ,the least observation will show this1 and will also prevent us from falling into the very common error of confusing the universal power of recognizing the truths of ,christianity and following its precepts1 with the very different faculty that leads one human race1 and not another1 to understand the earthly conditions of social improvement1 and to be able to pass from one rung of the ladder to another1 so as to reach finally the state which we call civilization4 ,the rungs of this ladder are the measure of the inequality of human races4 ,it was held1 quite wrongly1 in the last century1 that the doctrine of renunciation1 a corner-stone of ,christianity1 was essentially opposed to social development2 and that people to whom the highest virtue consists in despising the things here below1 and in turning their eyes and hearts1 without ceasing1 towards the heavenly ,jerusalem1 will not do much to help the progress of this world4 ,the very imperfection of man may serve to rebut such an argument4 ,there has never been any serious reason to fear that he will renounce the joys of earth2 and though the counsels of religion were expressly directed to this point1 we may say that they were pulling against a current that they knew to be irresistible1 and were merely demanding a great deal in order to obtain a very little4 ,further1 the ,christian precepts are a great aid to society2 they plane away all roughness1 they pour the oil of charity on all social relations1 they condemn violence1 force men to appeal to the sole authority of reason1 and so gain for the spirit a plenitude of power which works in a thousand ways for the good of the flesh4 ,again1 religion elevates the mind by the metaphysical and intellectual character of its dogmas1 while through the purity of its moral ideal it tends to free the spirit from a host of corrosive vices and weaknesses1 which are dangerous to material progress4 ,thus1 as against the philosophers of the eighteenth century1 we are right in calling ,christianity a civilizing power--but only within certain limits2 if we take the words in too wide a sense1 we shall find ourselves drawn into a maze of error4 ,christianity is a civilizing force in so far as it makes a man better minded and better mannered2 yet it is only indirectly so1 for it has no idea of applying this improvement in morals and intelligence to the perishable things of this world1 and it is always content with the social conditions in which it finds its neophytes1 however imperfect the conditions may be4 ,so long as it can pull out the noxious weeds that stifle the well-being of the soul1 it is indifferent to everything else4 ,it leaves all men as it finds them--the ,chinese in his robes1 the ,eskimo in his furs1 the first eating rice1 and the second eating whale-blubber4 ,it does not require them to change their way of life4 ,if their state can be improved as a direct consequence of their conversion1 then ,christianity will certainly do its best to bring such an improvement about2 but it will not try to alter a single custom1 and certainly will not force any advance from one civilization to another1 for it has not yet adopted one itself4 ,it uses all civilizations and is above all4 ,there are proofs in abundance1 and ,i will speak of them in a moment2 but ,i must first make the confession that ,i have never understood the ultra-modern doctrine which identifies the law of ,christ and the interests of this world in such a way that it creates from their union a fictitious social order which it calls 8,christian civilization40 ,there is certainly such a thing as a pagan civilization1 just as there is a ,brahman1 ,buddhist1 or ,jewish civilization4 ,societies have existed1 and still exist1 which are absolutely based on religion4 ,religion has given them their constitution1 drawn up their laws1 settled their civic duties1 marked out their frontiers1 and prescribed their foreign policy4 ,such societies have only been able to persist by placing themselves under a more or less strict theocracy4 ,we can no more imagine their living without their rites and creeds than we can imagine the rites and creeds existing by themselves1 without the people4 ,the whole of antiquity was more or less in this condition4 ,roman statesmanship certainly invented the legal tolerance of creeds1 and a decadent theology produced a vast system of fusion and assimilation of cults2 but these belonged to the latest age of paganism1 when the fruit was already rotten on the tree4 ,while it was young and flourishing1 there were as many ,jupiters1 ,mercuries1 and ,venuses1 as there were towns4 ,the god was a jealous god1 in a sense quite different from the jealousy of the ,jewish ,god2 he was still more exclusive1 and recognized no one but his fellow-citizens in this world and the next4 ,every ancient civilization rose to greatness under the gis of some divinity1 of some particular cult4 ,religion and the ,state were united so closely and inseparably that the responsibility for all that happened was shared between them4 ,we may speak1 if we will1 of 8finding traces of the cult of the ,tyrian ,heracles in the public policy of ,carthage02 but ,i think that we can really identify the effects of the doctrines taught by the priests with the policy of the suffetes and the trend of social development4 ,again1 ,i have no doubt that the dog-headed ,anubis1 ,isis ,neith1 and the ,ibises taught the men of the ,nile valley all that they knew and practised4 ,christianity1 however1 acted in this respect quite differently from all preceding religions2 this was its greatest innovation4 ,unlike them1 it had no chosen people4 ,it was addressed to the whole world1 not only to the rich or the poor4 ,from the first it received from the ,holy ,ghost the gift of tongues1#ca that it might speak to each man in the language of his country1 and proclaim the ,gospel by means of the ideas and images that each nation could best understand4 ,it did not come to change the outward part of man1 the material world2 it taught him to despise this outward part1 and was only concerned with his inner self4 ,we read in a very ancient apocryphal book1 8,let not the strong man boast of his strength1 nor the rich man of his riches2 but let him who will be glorified glorify himself in the ,lord40#cb ,strength1 riches1 worldly power1 and the way of ambition--all these have no meaning for our law4 ,no civilization whatever has excited its envy or contempt2 and because of this rare impartiality1 and the consequences that were to flow from it1 the law could rightly call itself 8,catholic10 or universal4 ,it does not belong exclusively to any civilization4 ,it did not come to bless any one form of earthly existence2 it rejects none1 and would purify all4 ,the canonical books1 the writings of the ,fathers1 the stories of the missionaries of all ages1 are filled with proofs of this indifference to the outward forms of social life1 and to social life itself4 ,provided that a man believes1 and that none of his daily actions tend to transgress the ordinances of religion1 nothing else matters4 ,of what importance is the shape of a ,christian's house1 the cut and material of his clothes1 his system of government1 the measure of tyranny or liberty in his public institutions8 ,he may be a fisherman1 a hunter1 a ploughman1 a sailor1 a soldier--whatever you like4 ,in all these different employments is there anything to prevent a man--to whatever nation he belong1 ,english1 ,turkish1 ,siberian1 ,american1 ,hottentot--from receiving the light of the ,christian faith8 ,absolutely nothing2 and when this result is attained1 the rest counts for very little4 ,the savage ,galla can remain a ,galla1 and yet become as staunch a believer1 as pure a 8vessel of election10 as the holiest prelate in ,europe4 ,it is here that ,christianity shows its striking superiority to other religions1 in its peculiar quality of grace4 ,we must not take this away1 in deference to a favourite idea of modern ,europe1 that something of material utility must be found everywhere1 even in the holiest things4 ,during the eighteen centuries that the ,church has existed1 it has converted many nations4 ,in all these it has allowed the political conditions to reign unchecked1 just as it found them at first4 ,it began by protesting to the world of antiquity that it did not wish to alter in the slightest degree the outward forms of society4 ,it has been even reproached1 on occasion1 with an excess of tolerance in this respect2 compare1 for example1 the attitude of the ,jesuits towards the ,chinese ceremonies4 ,we do not1 however1 find that ,christianity has ever given the world a unique type of civilization to which all believers had to belong4 ,the ,church adapts itself to everything1 even to the mud-hut2 and wherever there is a savage too stupid even to understand the use of shelter1 you are sure to find a devoted missionary sitting beside him on the hard rock1 and thinking of nothing but how to impress his soul with the ideas essential to salvation4 ,christianity is thus not a civilizing power in the ordinary sense of the word2 it can be embraced by the most different races without stunting their growth1 or making demands on them that they cannot fulfil4 ,i said above that ,christianity elevates the soul by the sublimity of its dogmas1 and enlarges the intellect by their subtlety4 ,this is only true in so far as the soul and intellect to which it appeals are capable of being enlarged and elevated4 ,its mission is not to bestow the gift of genius1 or to provide ideas for those who are without them4 ,neither genius nor ideas are necessary for salvation4 ,indeed the ,church has expressly declared that it prefers the weak and lowly to the strong4 ,it gives only what it wishes to receive4 ,it fertilizes but does not create4 ,it supports but does not lift on high4 ,it takes the man as he is1 and merely helps him to walk4 ,if he is lame1 it does not ask him to run4 ,if ,i open the 8,lives of the ,saints10 shall ,i find many wise men among them8 ,certainly not4 ,the company of the blessed ones whose name and memory are honoured by the ,church consists mainly of those who were eminent for their virtue and devotion2 but1 though full of genius in all that concerned heaven1 they had none for the things of earth4 ,when ,i see ,st4 ,rosa of ,lima honoured equally with ,st4 ,bernard1 the intercession of ,st4 ,zita valued no less than that of ,st4 ,teresa2 when ,i see all the ,anglo-,saxon saints1 most of the ,irish monks1 the unsavoury hermits of the ,egyptian ,thebaid1 the legions of martyrs who sprang from the dregs of the people and whom a sudden flash of courage and devotion raised to shine eternally in glory--when ,i see all these venerated to the same extent as the cleverest apologists of dogma1 as the wisest champions of the faith1 then ,i find myself justified in my conclusion that ,christianity is not a civilizing power1 in the narrow and worldly sense of the phrase4 ,just as it merely asks of every man what he has himself received1 so it asks nothing of any race but what it is capable of giving1 and does not set it in a higher place among the civilized races of the earth than its natural powers give it a right to expect4 ,hence ,i absolutely deny the egalitarian argument which identifies the possibility of adopting the ,christian faith with that of an unlimited intellectual growth4 ,most of the tribes of ,south ,america were received centuries ago into the bosom of the ,church2 but they have always remained savages1 with no understanding of the ,european civilization unfolding itself before their eyes4 ,i am not surprised that the ,cherokees of ,north ,america have been largely converted by ,methodist missionaries2 but it would greatly astonish me if this tribe1 while it remained pure in blood1 ever managed to form one of the ,states of the ,american ,union1 or exert any influence in ,congress4 ,i find it quite natural also that the ,danish ,lutherans and the ,moravians should have opened the eyes of the ,eskimos to the light of faith2 but ,i think it equally natural that their disciples should have remained in the social condition in which they had been stagnating for ages4 ,again1 the ,swedish ,lapps are1 as we might have expected1 in the same state of barbarism as their ancestors1 even though centuries have passed since the gospel first brought them the message of salvation4 ,all these peoples may produce--perhaps have produced already--men conspicuous for their piety and the purity of their lives2 but ,i do not expect to see learned theologians among them1 or skilful soldiers1 or clever mathematicians1 or great artists4 ,in other words they will for ever exclude the select company of the fine spirits who clasp hands across the ages and continually renew the strength of the dominant races4 ,still less will those rare and mighty geniuses appear who are followed by their nations1 in the paths they mark out for themselves1 only if those nations are themselves able to understand them and go forward under their direction4 ,even as a matter of justice we must leave ,christianity absolutely out of the present question4 ,if all races are equally capable of receiving its benefits1 it cannot have been sent to bring equality among men4 ,its kingdom1 we may say1 is in the most literal sense 8not of this world40 ,many people are accustomed to judge the merits of ,christianity in the light of the prejudices natural to our age2 and ,i fear that1 in spite of what ,i have said above1 they may have some difficulty in getting rid of their inaccurate ideas4 ,even if they agree on the whole with my conclusions1 they may still believe that the scale is turned by the indirect action of religion on conduct1 of conduct on institutions1 of institutions on the whole social order4 ,i cannot admit any such action4 ,my opponents will assert that the personal influence of the missionaries1 nay1 their mere presence1 will be enough to change appreciably the political condition of the converts and their ideas of material well-being4 ,they will say1 for example1 that these apostles nearly always 7though not invariably7 come from a nation more advanced than that to which they are preaching2 thus they will of their own accord1 almost by instinct1 change the merely human customs of their disciples1 while they are reforming their morals4 ,suppose the missionaries have to do with savages1 plunged in an abyss of wretchedness through their own ignorance4 ,they will instruct them in useful arts and show them how men escape from famine by work on the land4 ,after providing the necessary tools for this1 they will go further1 and teach them how to build better huts1 to rear cattle1 to control the water-supply--both in order to irrigate their fields1 and to prevent inundations4 ,little by little they will manage to give them enough taste for matters of the intellect to make them use an alphabet1 and perhaps1 as the ,cherokees have done1#cc invent one for themselves4 ,finally1 if they are exceptionally successful1 they will bring their cultivated disciples to imitate so exactly the customs of which the missionaries have told them1 that they will possess1 like the ,cherokees and the ,creeks on the south bank of the ,arkansas1 flocks of valuable sheep1 and even a collection of black slaves to work on their plantations4 ,they will be completely equipped for living on the land4 ,i have expressly chosen as examples the two races which are considered to be the most advanced of all4 ,yet1 far from agreeing with the advocates of equality1 ,i cannot imagine any more striking instances than these of the general incapacity of any race to adopt a way of life which it could not have found for itself4 ,these two peoples are the isolated remnant of many nations which have been driven out or annihilated by the whites4 ,they are naturally on a different plane from the rest1 since they are supposed to be descended from the ancient ,alleghany race to which the great ruins found to the north of the ,mississippi are attributed4#cd ,here is already a great inconsistency in the arguments of those who assert that the ,cherokees are the equals of the ,european races2 for the first step in their proof is that these ,alleghany tribes are near the ,anglo-,saxons precisely because they are themselves superior to the other races of ,north ,america6 ,well1 what has happened to these chosen peoples8 ,the ,american ,government took their ancient territories from both the tribes1 and1 by means of a special treaty1 made them emigrate to a definite region1 where separate places of settlement were marked out for them4 ,here1 under the general superintendence of the ,ministry of ,war and the direct guidance of ,protestant missionaries1 they were forced to take up their present mode of life1 whether they liked it or not4 ,the writer from whom ,i borrow these details--and who has himself taken them from the great work of ,gallatin#ce--says the number of the ,cherokees is continually increasing4 ,his argument is that at the time when ,adair visited them1 their warriors were estimated at #bcjj1 while to-day the sum-total of their population is calculated to be #ae1jjj2 this figure includes1 it is true1 the #abjj negro slaves who have become their property4 ,he also adds1 however1 that their schools are1 like their churches1 in the hands of the missionaries1 and that these missionaries1 being ,protestants1 are for the most part married men with white children or servants1 and probably also a sort of general staff of ,europeans1 acting as clerks1 and the like4 ,it thus becomes very difficult to establish the fact of any real increase in the number of the natives1 while on the other hand it is very easy to appreciate the strong pressure that must be exerted by the ,european race over its pupils4#cf ,the possibility of making war is clearly taken away from them2 they are exiled1 surrounded on all sides by the ,american power1 which is too vast for them to comprehend1 and are1 ,i believe1 sincerely converted to the religion of their masters4 ,they are kindly treated by their spiritual guides and convinced of the necessity for working1 in the sense in which work is understood by their masters1 if they are not to die of hunger4 ,under these conditions ,i can quite imagine that they will become successful agriculturists1 and will learn to carry out the ideas that have been dinned into them1 day in1 day out1 without ceasing4 ,by the exercise of a little patience and by the judicious use of hunger as a spur to greed1 we can teach animals what they would never learn by instinct4 ,but to cry out at our success would be to rate much lower than it is the intelligence even of the humblest member of the human family4 ,when the village fairs are full of learned animals going through the most complicated tricks1 can we be surprised that men1 who have been submitted to a rigorous training and cut off from all means of escape or relaxation1 should manage to perform those functions of civilized life which1 even in a savage state1 they might be able to understand1 without having the desire to practise them8 ,the result is a matter of course2 and anyone who is surprised at it is putting man far below the card-playing dog or the horse who orders his dinner6 ,by arbitrarily gathering one's premises from the 8intelligent actions0 of a few human groups1 one ends in being too easily satisfied1 and in coming to feel enthusiasms which are not very flattering even to those who are their objects4 ,i know that some learned men have given colour to these rather obvious comparisons by asserting that between some human races and the larger apes there is only a slight difference of degree1 and none of kind4 ,as ,i absolutely reject such an insult to humanity1 ,i may be also allowed to take no notice of the exaggerations by which it is usually answered4 ,i believe1 of course1 that human races are unequal2 but ,i do not think that any of them are like the brute1 or to be classed with it4 ,the lowest tribe1 the most backward and miserable variety of the human species1 is at least capable of imitation2 and ,i have no doubt that if we take one of the most hideous bushmen1 we could develop--,i do not say in him1 if he is already grown up1 but in his son or at any rate his grandson--sufficient intelligence to make his acts correspond to a certain degree of civilization1 even if this required some conscious effort of study on his part4 ,are we to infer that the people to which he belongs could be civilized on our model8 ,this would be a hasty and superficial conclusion4 ,from the practice of the arts and professions invented under an advanced civilization1 it is a far cry to that civilization itself4 ,further1 though the ,protestant missionaries are an indispensable link between the savage tribe and the central civilizing power1 is it certain that these missionaries are equal to the task imposed on them8 ,are they the masters of a complete system of social science8 ,i doubt it4 ,if communications were suddenly cut off between the ,american ,government and its spiritual legates among the ,cherokees1 the traveller would find in the native farms1 at the end of a few years1 some new practices that he had not expected4 ,these would result from the mixture of white and ,indian blood2 and our traveller would look in vain for anything more than a very pale copy of what is taught at ,new ,york4 ,we often hear of negroes who have learnt music1 who are clerks in banking-houses1 and who know how to read1 write1 count1 dance1 and speak1 like white men4 ,people are astonished at this1 and conclude that the negro is capable of everything6 ,and then1 in the same breath1 they will express surprise at the contrast between the ,slav civilization and our own4 ,the ,russians1 ,poles1 and ,serbians 7they will say71 even though they are far nearer to us than the negroes1 are only civilized on the surface2 the higher classes alone participate in our ideas1 owing to the continual admixture of ,english1 ,french1 and ,german blood4 ,the masses1 on the other hand1 are invincibly ignorant of the ,western world and its movements1 although they have been ,christian for so many centuries--in many cases before we were converted ourselves6 ,the solution is simple4 ,there is a great difference between imitation and conviction4 ,imitation does not necessarily imply a serious breach with hereditary instincts2 but no one has a real part in any civilization until he is able to make progress by himself1 without direction from others4#cg ,what is the use of telling me how clever some particular savages are in guiding the plough1 in spelling1 or reading1 when they are only repeating the lessons they have learnt8 ,show me rather1 among the many regions in which negroes have lived for ages in contact with ,europeans1 one single place where1 in addition to the religious doctrines1 the ideas1 customs1 and institutions of even one ,european people have been so completely assimilated that progress in them is made as naturally and spontaneously as among ourselves4 ,show me a place where the introduction of printing has had results1 similar to those in ,europe1 where our sciences are brought to perfection1 where new applications are made of our discoveries1 where our philosophies are the parents of other philosophies1 of political systems1 of literature and art1 of books1 statues1 and pictures6 ,but ,i am not really so exacting and narrow-minded as ,i seem4 ,i am not seriously asking that a people should adopt our whole individuality at the same time as our faith4 ,i am willing to admit that it should reject our way of thinking and strike out quite a different one4 ,well then6 let me see our negro1 at the moment when he opens his eyes to the light of the ,gospel1 suddenly realizing that his earthly path is as dark and perplexed as his spiritual life was before4 ,let me see him creating for himself a new social order in his own image1 putting ideas into practice that have hitherto rusted unused1 taking foreign notions and moulding them to his purpose4 ,i will wait long for the work to be finished2 ,i merely ask that it may be begun4 ,but it has never been begun2 it has never even been attempted4 ,you may search through all the pages of history1 and you will not find a single people that has attained to ,european civilization by adopting ,christianity1 or has been brought by the great fact of its conversion to civilize itself when it was not civilized already4 ,on the other hand1 ,i shall find1 in the vast tracts of ,southern ,asia and in certain parts of ,europe1 ,states fused together out of men of very different religions4 ,the unalterable hostility of races1 however1 will be found side by side with that of cults2 we can distinguish the ,pathan who has become a ,christian from the converted ,hindu1 just as easily as we separate to-day the ,russian of ,orenburg from the nomad ,christian tribes among which he lives4 ,once more1 ,christianity is not a civilizing power1 and has excellent reasons for not being so4 ,,chapter ,,viii ,,definition ,,of ,,the ,,word 8,,civilization02 ,,social ,,development ,,has ,a ,,twofold ,,origin ,here ,i must enter on a digression vital to my argument4 ,at every turn ,i am using a word involving a circle of ideas which it is very necessary to define4 ,i am continually speaking of 8civilization10 and cannot help doing so2 for it is only by the existence in some measure1 or the complete absence1 of this attribute that ,i can gauge the relative merits of the different races4 ,i refer both to ,european civilization and to others which may be distinguished from it4 ,i must not leave the slightest vagueness on this point1 especially as ,i differ from the celebrated writer who alone in ,france has made it his special business to fix the meaning and province of this particular word4 ,guizot1 if ,i may be allowed to dispute his great authority1 begins his book on 8,civilization in ,europe0 by a confusion of terms which leads him into serious error4 ,he calls civilization an event4 ,the word event must be used by ,guizot in a less positive and accurate way than it usually is--in a wide1 uncertain1 elastic sense that it never bears2 otherwise1 it does not properly define the meaning of the word civilization at all4 ,civilization is not an event1 it is a series1 a chain of events linked more or less logically together and brought about by the inter-action of ideas which are often themselves very complex4 ,there is a continual bringing to birth of further ideas and events4 ,the result is sometimes incessant movement1 sometimes stagnation4 ,in either case1 civilization is not an event1 but an assemblage of events and ideas1 a state in which a human society subsists1 an environment with which it has managed to surround itself1 which is created by it1 emanates from it1 and in turn reacts on it4 ,this state is universal in a sense in which an event never is4 ,it admits of many variations which it could not survive if it were merely an event4 ,further1 it is quite independent of all forms of government2 it makes as much progress under a despotism as under the freest democracy1 and it does not cease to exist when the conditions of political life are modified or even absolutely changed by civil war4 ,this does not mean that we may more or less neglect the forms of government4 ,they are intimately bound up with the health of the social organism2 its prosperity is impaired or destroyed if the choice of government is bad1 favoured and developed if the choice is good4 ,but we are not concerned here with mere questions of prosperity4 ,our subject is more serious4 ,it deals with the very existence of peoples and of civilization2 and civilization has to do with certain elemental conditions which are independent of politics1 and have to look far deeper for the motive-forces that bring them into being1 direct1 and expand them1 make them fruitful or barren and1 in a word1 mould their whole life4 ,in face of such root-questions as these1 considerations of government1 prosperity1 and misery naturally take a second place4 ,the first place is always and everywhere held by the question 8to be or not to be10 which is as supreme for a people as for an individual4 ,as ,guizot does not seem to have realized this1 civilization is to him not a state or an environment1 but an event2 and he finds its generating principle in another event1 of a purely political character4 ,if we open his eloquent and famous book1 we shall come upon a mass of hypotheses calculated to set his leading idea into relief4 ,after mentioning a certain number of situations to which human societies might come1 the author asks 8whether common instinct would recognize in these the conditions under which a people civilizes itself1 in the natural sense of the word40 ,the first hypothesis is as follows3 8,consider a people whose external life is easy and luxurious4 ,it pays few taxes1 and is in no distress4 ,justice is fairly administered between man and man4 ,in fact1 its material and moral life is carefully kept in a state of inertia1 of torpor1 ,i will not say of oppression1 because there is no feeling of this1 but at any rate of repression4 ,the case is not unexampled4 ,there have been a large number of little aristocratic republics1 where the subjects have been treated in this way1 like sheep1 well looked after and1 in a material sense1 happy1 but without any intellectual or moral activity4 ,is this civilization8 ,and is such a people civilizing itself80 ,i do not know whether it is actually civilizing itself2 but certainly the people of whom he speaks might be very 8civilized40 ,otherwise1 we should have to rank among savage tribes or barbarians all the aristocratic republics1 of ancient and modern times1 which ,guizot confessedly includes as instances of his hypothesis4 ,the general instinct would certainly be offended by a method that forbids not only the ,phnicians1 the ,carthaginians1 and the ,spartans to enter the temple of civilization1 but also the ,venetians1 the ,genoese1 the ,pisans1 and all the free ,imperial cities of ,germany1 in a word all the powerful municipalities of the last few centuries4 ,this conclusion seems in itself too violently paradoxical to be admitted by the common sense to which it appeals2 but besides this1 it has1 ,i think1 to face a still greater difficulty4 ,these little aristocratic ,states which1 owing to their form of government1 ,guizot refuses to accept as capable of civilization1 have never1 in most cases1 possessed a special and unique culture4 ,however powerful many of them may have been1 they were in this respect assimilated to peoples who were differently governed1 but very near them in race2 they merely shared in a common civilization4 ,thus1 though the ,carthaginians and the ,phnicians were at a great distance from each other1 they were nevertheless united by a similar form of culture1 which had its prototype in ,assyria4 ,the ,italian republics took part in the movement of ideas and opinions which were dominant in the neighbouring monarchies4 ,the ,imperial towns of ,swabia and ,thuringia were quite independent politically1 but were otherwise wholly within the sweep of the general progress or decadence of the ,german race4 ,hence while ,guizot is distributing his orders of merit among the nations according to their degree of political liberty and their forms of government1 he is really making cleavages1 within races1 that he cannot justify1 and assuming differences that do not exist4 ,a more detailed discussion of the point would hardly be in place here1 and ,i pass on4 ,if ,i did open such an argument1 ,i should begin 7and rightly ,i think7 by refusing to admit that ,pisa1 ,genoa1 ,venice1 and the rest were in any way inferior to towns such as ,milan1 ,naples1 and ,rome4 ,guizot himself anticipates such an objection4 ,he does not allow that a people is civilized1 8which is governed mildly1 but kept in a state of repression02 yet he also refuses civilization to another people 8whose material life is less easy and luxurious1 though still tolerable1 yet whose moral and intellectual needs have not been neglected4444 ,in the people ,i am supposing10 he says1 8pure and noble sentiments are fostered4 ,their religious and ethical beliefs are developed to a certain degree1 but the idea of freedom is extinct4 ,every one has his share of truth doled out to him2 no one is allowed to seek it for himself4 ,this is the condition into which most of the ,asiatic nations1 the ,hindus1 for example1 have fallen2 their manly qualities are sapped by the domination of the priests40 ,thus into the same limbo as the aristocratic peoples must now be thrust the ,hindus1 the ,egyptians1 the ,etruscans1 the ,peruvians1 the ,tibetans1 the ,japanese1 and even the districts subject to modern ,rome4 ,i will not touch on ,guizot's last two hypotheses1 for the first two have so restricted the meaning of civilization that scarcely any nation of the earth can rightly lay claim to it any more4 ,in order to do so a people would have to live under institutions in which power and freedom were equally mingled1 and material development and moral progress co-ordinated in one particular way4 ,government and religion would have strict limits drawn round them1 beyond which they would not be allowed to advance4 ,finally1 the subjects would necessarily possess rights of a very definite kind4 ,on such an assumption1 the only civilized peoples would be those whose government is both constitutional and representative4 ,thus1 ,i should not be able to save any of the ,european nations from the indignity of being thrust into barbarism2 and1 as ,i should be always measuring the degree of civilization with reference to one single and unique political standard1 ,i should gradually come to reject even those constitutional states that made a bad use of their ,parliaments1 and keep the prize exclusively for those which used them well4 ,in the end ,i should be driven to consider only one nation1 of all that have ever lived1 as truly civilized--namely1 the ,english4 ,i am1 of course1 full of respect and admiration for the great people whose power and prodigious deeds are witnessed in every corner of the world by their victories1 their industry1 and their commerce4 ,i do not1 however1 feel that ,i am bound to respect and admire no other4 ,it seems to me a confession altogether too cruel and humiliating to mankind1 to say that1 since the beginning of the ages1 it has only succeeded in producing the full flower of civilization on a little island in the western ocean1 and that even there the true principle was not discovered before the reign of ,william and ,mary4 ,such a conception seems1 you must allow1 a little narrow4 ,and then consider its danger4 ,if civilization depends on a particular form of government1 then reason1 observation1 and science will soon have no voice in the question at all2 party-feeling alone will decide4 ,some bold spirits will be found to follow their own preferences1 and refuse to the ,british institutions the honour of being the ideal of human perfection2 all their enthusiasm will be given to the system established at ,petrograd or ,vienna4 ,many people1 perhaps the majority of those living between the ,rhine and the ,pyrenees1 will hold that1 in spite of some defects1 ,france is still the most civilized country in the world4 ,the moment that a decision as to culture becomes a matter of personal feeling1 agreement is impossible4 ,the most highly developed man will be he who holds the same views as oneself as to the respective duties of ruler and subjects2 while the unfortunate people who happen to think differently will be barbarians and savages4 ,no one1 ,i suppose1 will question the logic of this1 or dispute that a system that can lead to such a conclusion is1 to say the least of it1 very incomplete4 ,for my own part1 ,guizot's definition seems to me inferior even to that given by ,william von ,humboldt3 8,civilization is the humanizing of peoples both in their outward customs and institutions1 and in the inward feelings that correspond to these40#ch ,the defect here is the exact opposite of that which ,i have ventured to find in ,guizot's formula4 ,the cord is too loose1 the field of application too wide4 ,if civilization is acquired merely by softness of temper1 more than one very primitive tribe will have the right to claim it in preference to some ,european nation that may be rather rough in its character4 ,there are some tribes1 in the islands of the ,south ,pacific ,ocean and elsewhere1 which are very mild and inoffensive1 very easy of approach2 and yet no one1 even while praising them1 has ever dreamed of setting them above the surly ,norwegians1 or even at the side of the ferocious ,malays1 who are clad in flaming robes made by themselves1 who sail the seas in ships they have cleverly built with their own hands1 and are the terror1 and at the same time the most intelligent agents1 of the carrying trade to the ,eastern ports of the ,indian ,ocean4 ,so eminent a thinker as von ,humboldt could not fail to see this2 by the side1 therefore1 of civilization1 and just one grade above it1 he places culture4 8,by culture10 he says1 8a people which is already humanized in its social relations attains to art and science40 ,according to this hierarchy1 we find the second age of the world#ci filled with affectionate and sympathetic beings1 poets1 artists1 and scholars4 ,these1 however1 in their own nature1 stand outside the grosser forms of work2 they are as aloof from the hardships of war as they are from tilling the soil or practising the ordinary trades4 ,the leisure-time allowed for the exercise of the pure intellect is very small1 even in times of the greatest happiness and stability2 and there is an incessant struggle going on with ,nature and the laws of the universe to gain even the bare means of subsistence4 ,this being so1 we can easily see that our ,berlin philosopher is less concerned with describing realities than with taking certain abstractions which seem to him great and beautiful 7as indeed they are71 endowing them with life1 and making them act and move in a sphere as ideal as they are themselves4 ,any doubts that might remain on this point are soon dispelled when we come to the culminating-point of the system1 which consists of a third grade1 higher than the others4 ,here stands the 8completely formed man10 in whose nature is 8something at once higher and more personal1 a way of looking at the universe by which all the impressions gathered from the intellectual and moral forces at work around him are welded harmoniously together and taken up into his character and sensibility40 ,in this rather elaborate series the first stage is thus the 8civilized man10 that is1 the softened or humanized man2 the next is the 8cultured man10 the poet1 artist1 and scholar1 and the last is the highest point of development of which our species is capable1 the 8completely formed man10--of whom 7if ,i understand the doctrine aright7 we can gain an exact idea from what we are told of ,goethe and his 8,olympian calm40 ,the principle at the base of this theory is merely the vast difference which von ,humboldt sees between the general level of a people's civilization and the stage of perfection reached by a few great individuals4 ,this difference is so great that civilizations quite foreign to our own--that of the ,brahmans1 for instance--have been able1 so far as we know1 to produce men far superior in some ways to those that are most admired among ourselves4 ,i quite agree with von ,humboldt on this point4 ,it is quite true that our ,european society gives us neither the most sublime thinkers1 nor the greatest poets1 nor even the cleverest artists4 ,i venture to think1 however1 in spite of the great scholar's opinion1 that1 in order to define and criticize civilization generally1 we must1 if only for a moment1 be careful to shake off our prejudices with regard to the details of some particular type4 ,we must not cast our net so widely as to include the man in von ,humboldt's first stage1 whom ,i refuse to call civilized merely because he happens to be mild in character4 ,on the other hand we must not be so narrow as to reject every one but the philosopher of the third stage4 ,this would limit too strictly the scope of all human endeavour after progress1 and present its results as merely isolated and individual4 ,von ,humboldt's system does honour to the width and subtlety of a noble mind1 and may be compared1 in its essentially abstract nature1 with the frail worlds1 imagined by the ,hindu philosophers1 which are born from the brain of a sleeping god1 rise into the ther like the rainbow-coloured bubbles blown by a child1 and then break and give place to others according to the dreams that lightly hover round the ,divine slumber4 ,the nature of my investigations keeps me on a lower and more prosaic level2 ,i wish to arrive at results that are a little more within the range of practical experience4 ,the restricted angle of my vision forbids me to consider1 as ,guizot does1 the measure of prosperity enjoyed by human societies1 or to contemplate1 with von ,humboldt1 the high peaks on which a few great minds sit in solitary splendour2 my inquiries concern merely the amount of power1 material as well as moral1 that has been developed among the mass of a people4 ,it has made me uneasy1 ,i confess1 to see two of the most famous men of the century losing themselves in by-ways2 and if ,i am to trust myself to follow a different road from theirs1 ,i must survey my ground1 and go back as far as possible for my premises1 in order to reach my goal without stumbling4 ,i must ask the reader to follow me with patience and attention through the winding paths in which ,i have to walk1 and ,i will try to illuminate1 as far as ,i can1 the inherent obscurity of my subject4 ,there is no tribe so degraded that we cannot discover in it the instinct to satisfy both its material and its moral needs4 ,the first and most obvious difference between races lies in the various ways in which the two sides of this instinct are balanced4 ,among the most primitive peoples they are never of equal intensity4 ,in some1 the sense of the physical need is uppermost1 in others1 the tendency to contemplation4 ,thus the brutish hordes of the yellow race seem to be dominated by the needs of the body1 though they are not quite without gleams of a spiritual world4 ,on the other hand to most of the negro tribes that have reached the same stage of development1 action is less than thought1 and the imagination gives a higher value to the things unseen than those that can be handled4 ,from the point of view of civilization1 ,i do not regard this as a reason for placing the negroes on a higher level2 for the experience of centuries shows that they are no more capable of being civilized than the others4 ,ages have passed without their doing anything to improve their condition2 they are all equally powerless to mingle act and idea in sufficient strength to burst their prison walls and emerge from their degradation4 ,but even in the lowest stages of human progress ,i always find this twofold stream of instinct1 in which now one1 now the other current predominates2 and ,i will try to trace its path as ,i go up the scale of civilization4 ,above the ,samoyedes1 as above some of the ,polynesian negroes1 come the tribes that are not quite content with a hut made of branches or with force as the only social relation1 but desire something better4 ,these tribes are raised one step above absolute barbarism4 ,if they belong to those races to whom action is more than thought1 we shall see them improving their tools1 their arms1 and their ornaments1 setting up a government in which the warriors are more important than the priests1 developing ideas of exchange1 and already showing a fair aptitude for commerce4 ,their wars will still be cruel1 but will tend more and more to become mere pillaging expeditions2 in fact1 material comfort and physical enjoyment will be the main aim of the people4 ,i find this picture realized in many of the ,mongolian tribes2 also1 in a higher form1 among the ,quichuas and ,aymaras of ,peru4 ,the opposite condition1 involving a greater detachment from mere bodily needs1 will be found among the ,dahomeys of ,west ,africa1 and the ,kaffirs4 ,i now continue the journey upwards1 and leave the groups in which the social system is not strong enough to impose itself over a large population1 even after a fusion of blood4 ,i pass to those in which the racial elements are so strong that they grip fast everything that comes within their reach1 and draw it into themselves2 they found over immense tracts of territory a supreme dominion resting on a basis of ideas and actions that are more or less perfectly co-ordinated4 ,for the first time we have reached what can be called a civilization4 ,the same internal differences that ,i brought out in the first two stages appear in the third2 they are in fact far more marked than before1 as it is only in this third stage that their effects are of any real importance4 ,from the moment when an assemblage of men1 which began as a mere tribe1 has so widened the horizon of its social relations as to merit the name of a people1 we see one of the two currents of instinct1 the material and the intellectual1 flowing with greater force than before1 according as the separate groups1 now fused together1 were originally borne along by one or the other4 ,thus1 different results will follow1 and different qualities of a nation will come to the surface1 according as the power of thought or that of action is dominant4 ,we may use here the ,hindu symbolism1 and represent what ,i call the 8intellectual current0 by ,prakriti1 the female principle1 and the 8material current0 by ,purusha1 the male principle4 ,there is1 of course1 no blame or praise attaching to either of these phrases2 they merely imply that the one principle is fertilized by the other4#dj ,further1 we can see1 at some periods of a people's existence1 a strong oscillation between the two principles1 one of which alternately prevails over the other4 ,these changes depend on the mingling of blood that inevitably takes place at various times4 ,their consequences are very important1 and sensibly alter the character of the civilization by impairing its stability4 ,i can thus divide peoples into two classes1 as they come predominantly under the action of one or other of these currents2 though the division is1 of course1 in no way absolute4 ,at the head of the 8male0 category ,i put the ,chinese2 the ,hindus being the prototype of the opposite class4 ,after the ,chinese come most of the peoples of ancient ,italy1 the ,romans of the ,early ,republic1 and the ,germanic tribes4 ,in the opposite camp are ranged the nations of ,egypt and ,assyria4 ,they take their place behind the men of ,hindustan4 ,when we follow the nations down the ages1 we find that the civilization of nearly all of them has been modified by their oscillation between the two principles4 ,the peoples of ,northern ,china were at first almost entirely materialistic4 ,by a gradual fusion with tribes of different blood1 especially those in the ,yunnan1 their outlook became less purely utilitarian4 ,the reason why this development has been arrested1 or at least has been very slow1 for centuries past1 is because the 8male0 constituents of the population are far greater in quantity than the slight 8female0 element in its blood4 ,in ,northern ,europe the materialistic strain1 contributed by the best of the ,germanic tribes1 has been continually strengthened by the influx of ,celts and ,slavs4 ,but as the white peoples drifted more and more towards the south1 the male influences gradually lost their force and were absorbed by an excess of female elements1 which finally triumphed4 ,we must allow some exceptions to this1 for example in ,piedmont and ,northern ,spain4 ,passing now to the other division1 we see that the ,hindus have in a high degree the feeling of the supernatural1 that they are more given to meditation than to action4 ,as their earliest conquests brought them mainly into contact with races organized along the same lines as themselves1 the male principle could not be sufficiently developed among them4 ,in such an environment their civilization was not able to advance on the material side as it had on the intellectual4 ,we may contrast the ancient ,romans1 who were naturally materialistic1 and only ceased to be so after a complete fusion with ,greeks1 ,africans1 and ,orientals had changed their original nature and given them a totally new temperament4 ,the internal development of the ,greeks resembled that of the ,hindus4 ,i conclude from such facts as these that every human activity1 moral or intellectual1 has its original source in one or other of these two currents1 8male0 or 8female02 and only the races which have one of these elements in abundance 7without1 of course1 being quite destitute of the other7 can reach1 in their social life1 a satisfactory stage of culture1 and so attain to civilization4 ,,chapter ,,ix ,,definition ,,of ,,the ,,word 8,,civilization0 7continued72 ,,different ,,characteristics ,,of ,,civilized ,,societies2 ,,our ,,civilization ,,is ,,not ,,superior ,,to ,,those ,,which ,,have ,,gone ,,before ,when a nation1 belonging to either the male or female series1 has the civilizing instinct so strongly that it can impose its laws on vast multitudes of men2 when it is so fortunate as to be able to satisfy their inner needs1 and appeal to their hearts as well as their heads2 from this moment a culture is brought into being4 ,this general appeal is the essential note of the civilizing instinct1 and its greatest glory4 ,this alone makes it a living and active force4 ,the interests of individuals only flourish in isolation2 and social life always tends1 to some extent1 to mutilate them4 ,for a system of ideas to be really fruitful and convincing1 it must suit the particular ways of thought and feeling current among the people to whom it is offered4 ,when some special point of view is accepted by the mass of a people as the basis of their legislation1 it is really because it fulfils1 in the main1 their most cherished desires4 ,the male nations look principally for material well-being1 the female nations are more taken up with the needs of the imagination2 but1 ,i repeat1 as soon as the multitudes enrol themselves under a banner1 or--to speak more exactly--as soon as a particular form of administration is accepted1 a civilization is born4 ,another invariable mark of civilization is the need that is felt for stability4 ,this follows immediately from what ,i have said above2 for the moment that men have admitted1 as a community1 that some special principle is to govern and unite them1 and have consented to make individual sacrifices to bring this about1 their first impulse is to respect the governing principle--as much for what it brings as for what it demands--and to declare it unshakable4 ,the purer a race keeps its blood1 the less will its social foundations be liable to attack2 for the general way of thought will remain the same4 ,yet the desire for stability cannot be entirely satisfied for long4 ,the admixture of blood will be followed by some modifications in the fundamental ideas of the people1 and these again by an itch for change in the building itself4 ,such change will sometimes mean real progress1 especially in the dawn of a civilization1 when the governing principle is usually rigid and absolute1 owing to the exclusive predominance of some single race4 ,later1 the tinkering will become incessant1 as the mass is more heterogeneous and loses its singleness of aim2 and the community will not always be able to congratulate itself on the result4 ,so long1 however1 as it remains under the guidance of the original impulse1 it will not cease1 while holding fast to the idea of bettering its condition1 to follow a chimera of stability4 ,fickle1 unstable1 changing every hour1 it yet thinks itself eternal1 and marches on1 as towards some goal in ,paradise4 ,it clings to the doctrine 7even while continually denying it in practice7 that one of the chief marks of civilization is to borrow a part of ,god's immutability for the profit of man4 ,when the likeness obviously does not exist1 it takes courage1 and consoles itself by the conviction that soon1 at any rate1 it will attain to the ,divine attribute4 ,by the side of stability1 and the co-operation of individual interests1 which touch each other without being destroyed1 we must put a third and a fourth characteristic of civilization1 sociability1 and the hatred of violence--in other words the demand that the head1 and not the fists1 shall be used for self-defence4 ,these last two features are the source of all mental improvement1 and so of all material progress2 it is to these especially that we look for the evidence as to whether a society is advanced or not4#da ,i think ,i may now sum up my view of civilization by defining it as a state of relative stability1 where the mass of men try to satisfy their wants by peaceful means1 and are refined in their conduct and intelligence4 ,in this formula are comprised all the peoples whom ,i have mentioned up to now as being civilized1 whether they belong to one or the other class4 ,assuming that the conditions are fulfilled1 we must now inquire whether all civilizations are equal4 ,i think not4 ,the social needs of the chief peoples are not felt with the same intensity or directed towards the same objects2 thus their conduct and intelligence will show great differences in kind1 as well as in degree4 ,what are the material needs of the ,hindu8 ,rice and butter for his food1 and a linen cloth for his raiment4 ,we may certainly be tempted to ascribe this simplicity to conditions of climate4 ,but the ,tibetans live in a very severe climate1 and are yet most remarkable for their abstinence4 ,the main interest of both these peoples is in their religious and philosophical development1 in providing for the very insistent demands of the mind and the spirit4 ,thus there is no balance kept between the male and female principles4 ,the scale is too heavily weighted on the intellectual side1 the consequence being that almost all the work done under this civilization is exclusively devoted to the one end1 to the detriment of the other4 ,huge monuments1 mountains of stone1 are chiselled and set up1 at a cost of toil and effort that staggers the imagination4 ,colossal buildings cover the ground--and with what object8 to honour the gods4 ,nothing is made for man--except perhaps the tombs4 ,by the side of the marvels produced by the sculptor1 literature1 with no less vigour1 creates her masterpieces4 ,the theology1 the metaphysics1 are as varied as they are subtle and ingenious1 and man's thought goes down1 without flinching1 into the immeasurable abyss4 ,in lyric poetry feminine civilization is the pride of humanity4 ,but when ,i pass from the kingdom of ideals and visions to that of the useful inventions1 and the theoretical sciences on which they rest1 ,i fall at once from the heights into the depths1 and the brilliant day gives place to night4 ,useful discoveries are rare2 the few that appear are petty and sterile2 the power of observation practically does not exist4 ,while the ,chinese were continually inventing1 the ,hindus conceived a few ideas1 which they did not take the trouble to work out4 ,again the ,greeks had1 as we know from their literature1 many scientific notions that were unworthy of them2 while the ,romans1 after passing the culminating-point in their history1 could not advance very far1 although they did more than the ,greeks2 for the mixture of ,asiatic blood1 that absorbed them with startling rapidity1 denied them the qualities which are indispensable for a patient investigation of nature4 ,yet their administrative genius1 their legislation1 and the useful buildings that were set up throughout the ,empire are a sufficient witness to the positive nature of their social ideas at a certain period2 they prove that if ,southern ,europe had not been so quickly covered by the continual stream of colonists from ,asia and ,africa1 positive science would have won the day1 and the ,germanic pioneers would1 in consequence1 have lost a few of their laurels4 ,the conquerors of the fifth century brought into ,europe a spirit of the same order as that of the ,chinese1 but with very different powers4 ,it was equipped1 to a far greater extent1 with the feminine qualities1 and united the two motive-forces far more harmoniously4 ,wherever this branch of the human family was dominant1 the utilitarian tendencies1 though in a nobler form1 are unmistakable4 ,in ,england1 ,north ,america1 ,holland1 and ,hanover1 they override the other instincts of the people4 ,it is the same in ,belgium1 and also in the north of ,france1 where there is always a wonderfully quick comprehension of anything with a practical bearing4 ,as we go further south these tendencies become weaker4 ,this is not due to the fiercer action of the sun1 for the ,catalans and the ,piedmontese certainly live in a hotter climate than the men of ,provence or ,bas-,languedoc2 the sole cause is the influence of blood4 ,the female or feminized races occupy the greater part of the globe1 and1 in particular1 the greater part of ,europe4 ,with the exception of the ,teutonic group and some of the ,slavs1 all the races in our part of the world have the material instincts only in a slight degree2 they have already played their parts in former ages and cannot begin again4 ,the masses1 in their infinite gradations from ,gaul to ,celtiberian1 from ,celtiberian to the nameless mixture of ,italians and other ,latin races1 form a descending scale1 so far as the chief powers 7though not all the powers7 of the male principle are concerned4 ,our civilization has been created by the mingling of the ,germanic tribes with the races of the ancient world1 the union1 that is to say1 of pre-eminently male groups with races and fragments of races clinging to the decayed remnants of the ancient ideas4 ,the richness1 variety1 and fertility of invention for which we honour our modern societies1 are the natural1 and more or less successful1 result of the maimed and disparate elements which our ,germanic ancestors instinctively knew how to use1 temper1 and disguise4 ,our own kind of culture has two general marks1 wherever it is found2 it has been touched1 however superficially1 by the ,germanic element1 and it is ,christian4 ,this second characteristic 7to repeat what ,i have said already7 is more marked than the other1 and leaps first to the eye1 because it is an outward feature of our modern ,state1 a sort of varnish on its surface2 but it is not absolutely essential1 as many nations are ,christian--and still more might become ,christian--without forming a part of our circle of civilization4 ,the first characteristic is1 on the contrary1 positive and decisive4 ,where the ,germanic element has never penetrated1 our special kind of civilization does not exist4 ,this naturally brings me to the question whether we can call our ,european societies entirely civilized2 whether the ideas and actions that appear on the surface have the roots of their being deep down in the mass of the people1 and therefore whether their effects correspond with the instincts of the greatest number4 ,this leads to a further question3 do the lower strata of our populations think and act in accordance with what we call ,european civilization8 ,many have admired1 and with good reason1 the extraordinary unity of ideas and views that guided the whole body of citizens in the ,greek states of the best period4 ,the conclusions on every essential point were often hostile to each other2 but they all derived from the same source4 ,in politics1 some wanted more or less democracy1 some more or less oligarchy4 ,in religion1 some chose to worship the ,eleusinian ,demeter1 others ,athene ,parthenos4 ,as a matter of literary taste1 schylus might be preferred to ,sophocles1 ,alcus to ,pindar4 ,but1 at bottom1 the ideas discussed were all such as we might call national2 the disputes turned merely on points of proportion4 ,the same was the case at ,rome1 before the ,punic ,wars2 the civilization of the country was uniform and unquestioned4 ,it reached the slave through the master2 all shared in it to a different extent1 but none shared in any other4 ,from the time of the ,punic ,wars among the ,romans1 and from that of ,pericles1 and especially of ,philip1 among the ,greeks1 this uniformity tended more and more to break down4 ,the mixture of nations brought with it a mixture of civilizations4 ,the result was a very complex and learned society1 with a culture far more refined than before4 ,but it had one striking disadvantage2 both in ,italy and in ,hellas1 it existed merely for the upper classes1 the lower strata being left quite ignorant of its nature1 its merits1 and its aims4 ,roman civilization after the great ,asiatic wars was1 no doubt1 a powerful manifestation of human genius2 but it really embraced none but the ,greek rhetoricians who supplied its philosophical basis1 the ,syrian lawyers who built up for it an atheistic legal system1 the rich men who were engaged in public administration or money-making1 and finally the leisured voluptuaries who did nothing at all4 ,by the masses it was1 at all times1 merely tolerated4 ,the peoples of ,europe understood nothing of its ,asiatic and ,african elements1 those of ,egypt had no better idea of what it brought them from ,gaul and ,spain1 those of ,numidia had no appreciation of what came to them from the rest of the world4 ,thus1 below what we might call the social classes1 lived innumerable multitudes who had a different civilization from that of the official world1 or were not civilized at all4 ,only the minority of the ,roman people held the secret1 and attached any importance to it4 ,we have here the example of a civilization that is accepted and dominant1 no longer through the convictions of the peoples who live under it1 but by their exhaustion1 their weakness1 and their indifference4 ,in ,china we find the exact contrary4 ,the territory is of course immense1 but from one end to the other there is the same spirit among the native ,chinese--,i leave the rest out of account--and the same grasp of their civilization4 ,whatever its principles may be1 whether we approve of its aims or not1 we must admit that the part played by the masses in their civilization shows how well they understand it4 ,the reason is not that the country is free in our sense1 that a democratic feeling of rivalry impels all to do their best in order to secure a position guaranteed them by law4 ,not at all2 ,i am not trying to paint an ideal picture4 ,peasants and middle classes alike have little hope1 in the ,middle ,kingdom at any rate1 of rising by sheer force of merit4 ,in this part of the ,empire1 in spite of the official promises with regard to the system of examinations by which the public services are filled1 no one doubts that the places are all reserved for members of the official families1 and that the decision of the professors is often affected more by money than by scholarship2#db but though shipwrecked ambitions may bewail the evils of the system1 they do not imagine that there could be a better one1 and the existing state of things is the object of unshakable admiration to the whole people4 ,education in ,china is remarkably general and widespread2 it extends to classes considerably below those which1 in ,france1 might conceivably feel the want of it4 ,the cheapness of books1#dc the number and the low fees of the schools1 bring a certain measure of education within the reach of everybody4 ,the aims and spirit of the laws are generally well understood1 and the government is proud of having made legal knowledge accessible to all4 ,there is a strong instinct of repulsion against radical changes in the ,government4 ,a very trustworthy critic on this point1 ,mr4 ,john ,f4 ,davis1 the ,british ,commissioner in ,china1 who has not only lived in ,canton but has studied its affairs with the closest application1 says that the ,chinese are a people whose history does not show a single attempt at a social revolution1 or any alteration in the outward forms of power4 ,in his opinion1 they are best described as 8a nation of steady conservatives40 ,the contrast is very striking1 when we turn to the civilization of the ,roman world1 where changes of government followed each other with startling rapidity right up to the coming of the northern peoples4 ,everywhere in this great society1 and at every time1 we can find populations so detached from the existing order as to be ready for the wildest experiments4 ,nothing was left untried in this long period1 no principle respected4 ,property1 religion1 the family were all called in question1 and many1 both in the ,north and ,south1 were inclined to put the novel theories into practice4 ,absolutely nothing in the ,grco-,roman world rested on a solid foundation1 not even the unity of the ,empire1 so necessary one would think for the general safety4 ,further1 it was not only the armies1 with their hosts of improvised ,csars1 who were continually battering at this ,palladium of society2 the emperors themselves1 beginning with ,diocletian1 had so little belief in the monarchy1 that they established of their own accord a division of power4 ,at last there were four rulers at once4 ,not a single institution1 not a single principle1 was fixed1 in this unhappy society1 which had no better reason for continuing to exist than the physical impossibility of deciding on which rock it should founder2 until the moment came when it was crushed in the vigorous arms of the ,north1 and forced at last to become something definite4 ,thus we find a complete opposition between these two great societies1 the ,celestial and the ,roman ,empires4 ,to the civilization of ,eastern ,asia ,i will add that of the ,brahmans1 which is also of extraordinary strength and universality4 ,if in ,china every one1 or nearly every one1 has reached a certain level of knowledge1 the same is the case among the ,hindus4 ,each man1 according to his caste1 shares in a spirit that has lasted for ages1 and knows exactly what he ought to learn1 think1 and believe4 ,among the ,buddhists of ,tibet and other parts of ,upper ,asia1 nothing is rarer than a peasant who cannot read4 ,every one has similar convictions on the important matters of life4 ,do we find the same uniformity among ,europeans8 ,the question is not worth asking4 ,the ,grco-,roman civilization has no definitely marked colour1 either throughout the nations as a whole1 or even within the same people4 ,i need not speak of ,russia or most of the ,austrian ,states2 the proof would be too easy4 ,but consider ,germany or ,italy 7especially ,south ,italy72 ,spain shows a similar picture1 though in fainter lines2 ,france is in the same position as ,spain4 ,take the case of ,france4 ,i will not confine myself to the fact1 which always strikes the most superficial observer1 that between ,paris and the rest of ,france there is an impassable gulf1 and that at the very gates of the capital a new nation begins1 which is quite different from that living within the walls4 ,on this point there is no room for doubt1 and those who base their conclusions1 as to the unity of ideas and the fusion of blood1 on the formal unity of our ,government1 are under a great illusion4 ,not a single social law or root-principle of civilization is understood in the same way in all our departments4 ,i do not refer merely to the peoples of ,normandy1 ,brittany1 ,anjou1 ,limousin1 ,gascony1 and ,provence2 every one knows how little one is like the other1 and how they vary in their opinions4 ,the important point is that1 while in ,china1 ,tibet1 and ,india the ideas essential to the maintenance of civilization are familiar to all classes1 this is not at all the case among ourselves4 ,the most elementary and accessible facts are sealed mysteries to most of our rural populations1 who are absolutely indifferent to them2 for usually they can neither read nor write1 and have no wish to learn4 ,they cannot see the use of such knowledge1 nor the possibility of applying it4 ,in such a matter1 ,i put no trust in the promises of the law1 or the fine show made by institutions1 but rather in what ,i have seen for myself1 and in the reports of careful observers4 ,different governments have made the most praiseworthy attempts to raise the peasants from their ignorance2 not only are the children given every opportunity for being educated in their villages1 but even adults1 who are made conscripts at twenty1 find in the regimental schools an excellent system of instruction in the most necessary subjects4 ,yet1 in spite of these provisions1 and the fatherly anxiety of the ,government1 in spite of the compelle intrare#dd which it is continually dinning into the ears of its agents1 the agricultural classes learn nothing whatever4 ,like all those who have lived in the provinces1 ,i have seen how parents never send their children to school without obvious reluctance1 how they regard the hours spent there as a mere waste of time1 how they withdraw them at once on the slightest pretext and never allow the compulsory number of years to be extended4 ,once he leaves school1 the young man's first duty is to forget what he has learnt4 ,this is1 to a certain extent1 a point of honour with him2 and his example is followed by the discharged soldiers1 who1 in many parts of ,france1 are not only ashamed of having learnt to read and write1 but even affect to forget their own language1 and often succeed in doing so4 ,hence ,i could more easily approve all the generous efforts that have been so fruitlessly made to educate our rural populations1 if ,i were not convinced that the knowledge put before them is quite unsuitable1 and that at the root of their apparent indifference there is a feeling of invincible hostility to our civilization4 ,one proof lies in their attitude of passive resistance2 but the spectre of another and more convincing argument appears before me1 as soon as ,i see any instance of this obstinacy being overcome1 under apparently favourable circumstances4 ,in some respects the attempts at education are succeeding better than before4 ,in our eastern departments and the great manufacturing towns there are many workmen who learn of their own accord to read and write4 ,they live in a circle where such knowledge is obviously useful4 ,but as soon as they have a sufficient grasp of the rudiments1 how do they use them8 ,generally as a means of acquiring ideas and feelings which are now no longer instinctively1 but actively1 opposed to the social order4 ,the only exception is to be found in the agricultural and even the industrial population of the ,north-west1 where knowledge up to an elementary point is far more widespread than in any other part1 and where it is not only retained after the school time is over1 but is usually made to serve a good end4 ,as these populations have much more affinity than the others to the ,germanic race1 ,i am not surprised at the result4 ,we see the same phenomenon in ,belgium and the ,netherlands4 ,if we go on to consider the fundamental beliefs and opinions of the people1 the difference becomes still more marked4 ,with regard to the beliefs we have to congratulate the ,christian religion on not being exclusive or making its dogmas too narrow4 ,if it had1 it would have struck some very dangerous shoals4 ,the bishops and the clergy have to struggle1 as they have done for these five1 ten1 fifteen centuries1 against the stream of hereditary tendencies and prejudices1 which are the more formidable as they are hardly even admitted1 and so can neither be fought nor conquered4 ,there is no enlightened priest who does not know1 after his mission-work in the villages1 the deep cunning with which even the religious peasant will continue to cherish1 in his inmost heart1 some traditional idea that comes to the surface only at rare moments1 in spite of himself4 ,his complete confidence in his parish priest just stops short of what we might call his secret religion4 ,does he mention it to him8 he denies it1 will admit no discussion1 and will not budge an inch from his convictions4 ,this is the reason of the taciturnity that1 in every province1 is the main attitude of the peasant in face of the middle classes2 it raises too an insuperable barrier between him and even the most popular landowners in his canton4 ,with this view of civilization on the part of the majority of the people who are supposed to be most deeply attached to it1 ,i can well believe that an approximate estimate of ten millions within our circle of culture1 and twenty-six millions outside it1 would be1 if anything1 an under-statement4 ,if our rural populations were merely brutal and ignorant1 we might not take much notice of this cleavage1 but console ourselves with the delusive hope of gradually winning them over1 and absorbing them in the multitudes that are already civilized4 ,but these peasants are like certain savage tribes3 at first sight they seem brutish and unthinking1 for they are outwardly self-effacing and humble4 ,but if one digs even a little beneath the surface1 into their real life1 one finds that their isolation is voluntary1 and comes from no feeling of weakness4 ,their likes and dislikes are not a matter of chance2 everything obeys a logical sequence of definite ideas4 ,when ,i spoke just now of religion1 ,i might also have pointed out how very far removed our moral doctrines are from those of the peasants1#de what a different sense they give to the word delicacy1 how obstinately they cling to their custom of regarding every one who is not of peasant stock in the same way as the men of remote antiquity viewed the foreigner4 ,it is true they do not murder him1 thanks to the strange and mysterious terror inspired by laws they have not themselves made2 but they do not conceal their hatred and distrust of him1 and they take great pleasure in annoying him1 if they can do it without risk4 ,does this mean that they are ill-natured8 ,no1 not among themselves--we may continually see them doing each other little kindnesses4 ,they simply look on themselves as a race apart1 a race 7if we may believe them7 which is weak and oppressed1 and obliged to deal crookedly1 but which also keeps its stiff-necked and contemptuous pride4 ,in some of our provinces the workman thinks himself of far better blood and older stock than his former master4 ,family pride1 in some of the peasants1 is at least equal to that of the nobility of the ,middle ,ages4#df ,we cannot doubt it2 the lower strata of the ,french people have very little in common with the surface4 ,they form an abyss over which civilization is suspended1 and the deep stagnant waters1 sleeping at the bottom of the gulf1 will one day show their power of dissolving all that comes in their way4 ,the most tragic crises of her history have deluged the country with blood1 without the agricultural population playing any part except that which was forced on it4 ,where its immediate interests were not engaged1 it let the storms pass by without troubling itself in the least4 ,those who are astonished and scandalized by such callousness say that the peasant is essentially immoral--which is both unjust and untrue4 ,the peasants look on us almost in the light of enemies4 ,they understand nothing of our civilization1 they share in it unwillingly1 and think themselves justified in profiting1 as far as they can1 by its misfortunes4 ,if we put aside this antagonism1 which is sometimes active but generally inert1 we need not hesitate to allow them some high moral qualities1 however strangely these may1 at times1 be manifested4 ,i may apply to the whole of ,europe what ,i have just said of ,france1 and conclude that modern civilization includes far more than it absorbs2 in this it resembles the ,roman ,empire4 ,hence one cannot be confident that our state of society will last2 and ,i see a clear proof of this in the smallness of its hold even over the classes raised a little above the country population4 ,our civilization may be compared to the temporary islands thrown up in the sea by submarine volcanoes4 ,exposed as they are to the destructive action of the currents1 and robbed of the forces that first kept them in position1 they will one day break up1 and their fragments will be hurled into the gulf of the all-conquering waves4 ,it is a sad end1 and one which many noble races before ourselves have had to meet4 ,the blow cannot be turned aside2 it is inevitable4 ,the wise man may see it coming1 but can do nothing more4 ,the most consummate statesmanship is not able for one moment to counteract the immutable laws of the world4 ,but though thus unknown1 despised1 or hated by the majority of those who live under its shadow1 our civilization is yet one of the most glorious monuments ever erected by the genius of man4 ,it is certainly not distinguished by its power of invention2 but putting this aside1 we may say that it has greatly developed the capacity for understanding1 and so for conquest4 ,to mistake nothing is to take everything4 ,if it has not founded the 8exact sciences10 it has at least made them exact1 and freed them from errors to which1 curiously enough1 they were more liable than any other branch of knowledge4 ,thanks to its discoveries1 it knows the material world better than all the societies which have gone before4 ,it has guessed some of its chief laws1 it can describe and explain them1 and borrow from them a marvellous strength that passes a hundredfold the strength of a man4 ,little by little1 by a skilful use of induction1 it has reconstructed large periods of history of which the ancients never suspected the existence4 ,the further we are from primitive times1 the more clearly can we see them1 and penetrate their mysteries4 ,this is a great point of superiority1 and one which we must1 in fairness1 allow to our civilization4 ,but when we have admitted this1 should we be right in concluding1 as is usually done1 without reflexion1 that it is superior to all the civilizations that have ever existed1 and to all those that exist at the present day8 ,yes and no4 ,yes1 because the extreme diversity of its elements allows it to rest on a powerful basis of comparison and analysis1 and so to assimilate at once almost anything2 yes1 because this power of choice is favourable to its development in many different directions2 yes again1 because1 thanks to the impulse of the ,germanic element 7which is too materialistic to be a destructive force7 it has made itself a morality1 the wise prescriptions of which were generally unknown before4 ,if1 however1 we carry this idea of its greatness so far as to regard it as having an absolute and unqualified superiority1 then ,i say no1 the simple fact being that it excels in practically nothing whatever4 ,in politics1 we see it in bondage to the continual change brought about by the different requirements of the races which it includes4 ,in ,england1 ,holland1 ,naples1 and ,russia1 its principles are still fairly stable1 because the populations are more homogeneous1 or at any rate form groups of the same kind1 with similar instincts4 ,but everywhere else1 especially in ,france1 ,central ,italy1 and ,germany--where variations of race are infinite--theories of government can never rise to the rank of accepted truths1 and political science is a matter of continual experiment4 ,as our civilization is unable to have any sure confidence in itself1 it is without the stability that is one of the most important qualities mentioned in my definition4 ,this weakness is to be found neither in the ,buddhist and ,brahman societies1 nor in the ,celestial ,empire2 and these civilizations have in this respect an advantage over ours4 ,the whole people is at one in its political beliefs4 ,when there is a wise government1 and the ancient institutions are bearing good fruit1 every one is glad4 ,when they are in clumsy hands1 and injure the commonwealth1 they are pitied by the citizens as a man pities himself2 but they never cease to be respected4 ,there is sometimes a desire to purify them1 but never to sweep them away or replace them by others4 ,it does not need very keen eyes to see here a guarantee of long life which our civilization is very far from possessing4 ,in art1 our inferiority to ,india1 as well as to ,egypt1 ,greece1 and ,america1 is very marked4 ,neither in sublimity nor beauty have we anything to compare with the masterpieces of antiquity4 ,when our day has drawn to its close1 and the ruins of our towns and monuments cover the face of the land1 the traveller will discover nothing1 in the forests and marshes that will skirt the ,thames1 the ,seine1 and the ,rhine1 to rival the gorgeous ruins of ,phil1 ,nineveh1 ,athens1 ,salsette1 and the valley of ,tenochtitlan4 ,if future ages have something to learn from us in the way of positive science1 this is not the case with poetry1 as is clearly proved by the despairing admiration that we so justly feel for the intellectual wonders of foreign civilizations4 ,so far as the refinement of manners is concerned1 we have obviously changed for the worse4 ,this is shown by our own past history2 there were periods when luxury1 elegance1 and sumptuousness were understood far better and practised on a far more lavish scale than to-day4 ,pleasure was certainly confined to a smaller number4 ,comparatively few were in what we should call a state of well-being4 ,on the other hand1 if we admit 7as we must7 that refinement of manners elevates the minds of the multitudes who look on1 as well as ennobling the life of a few favoured individuals1 that it spreads a varnish of beauty and grandeur over the whole country1 and that these become the common inheritance of all--then our civilization1 which is essentially petty on its external side1 cannot be compared to its rivals4 ,i may add1 finally1 that the active element distinguishing any civilization is identical with the most striking quality1 whatever it may be1 of the dominant race4 ,the civilization is modified and transformed according to the changes undergone by this race1 and when the race itself has disappeared1 carries on for some time the impulse originally received from it4 ,thus the kind of order kept in any society is the best index to the special capacities of the people and to the stage of progress to which they have attained3 it is the clearest mirror in which their individuality can be reflected4 ,i see that the long digression1 into which ,i have strayed1 has carried me further than ,i expected4 ,i do not regret it1 for it has enabled me to vent certain ideas that the reader might well keep in mind4 ,but it is now time to return to the main course of my argument1 the chain of which is still far from being complete4 ,i established first that the life or death of societies was the result of internal causes4 ,i have said what these causes are1 and described their essential nature1 in order that they may be more easily recognized4 ,i have shown that they are generally referred to a wrong source2 and in looking for some sign that could always distinguish them1 and indicate their presence1 ,i found it in the capacity to create a civilization4 ,as it seemed impossible to discover a clear conception of this term1 it was necessary to define it1 as ,i have done4 ,my next step must be to study the natural and unvarying phenomenon which ,i have identified as the latent cause of the life and death of societies4 ,this1 as ,i have said1 consists in the relative worth of the different races4 ,logic requires me to make clear at once what ,i understand by the word race4 ,this will be the subject of the following chapter4 ,,chapter ,x ,,some ,,anthropologists ,,regard ,,man ,,as ,,having ,a ,,multiple ,,origin#dg ,we must first discuss the word race in its physiological sense4 ,a good many observers1 who judge by first impressions and so take extreme views1 assert that there are such radical and essential differences between human families that one must refuse them any identity of origin4#dh ,the writers who adhere to such a notion assume many other genealogies by the side of that from ,adam4 ,to them there is no original unity in the species1 or rather there is no single species2 there are three or four1 or even more1 which produce perfectly distinct types1 and these again have united to form hybrids4 ,the supporters of this theory easily win belief by citing the clear and striking differences between certain human groups4 ,when we see before us a man with a yellowish skin1 scanty hair and beard1 a large face1 a pyramidal skull1 small stature1 thick-set limbs1 and slanting eyes with the skin of the eyelids turned so much outwards that the eye will hardly open#di--we recognize a very well-marked type1 the main features of which it is easy to bear in mind4 ,from him we turn to another--a negro from the ,west ,coast of ,africa1 tall1 strong-looking1 with thick-set limbs and a tendency to fat4 ,his colour is no longer yellowish1 but entirely black2 his hair no longer thin and wiry1 but thick1 coarse1 woolly1 and luxuriant2 his lower jaw juts out1 the shape of the skull is what is known as prognathous4 8,the long bones stand out1 the front of the tibia and the fibula are more convex than in a ,european1 the calves are very high and reach above the knee2 the feet are quite flat1 and the heel-bone1 instead of being arched1 is almost in a straight line with the other bones of the foot1 which is very large4 ,the hand is similarly formed40 ,when we look for a moment at an individual of this type1 we are involuntarily reminded of the structure of the monkey1 and are inclined to admit that the negro races of ,west ,africa come from a stock that has nothing in common1 except the human form1 with the ,mongolian4 ,we come next to tribes whose appearance is still less flattering to the self-love of mankind than that of the ,congo negro4 ,oceania has the special privilege of providing the most ugly1 degraded1 and repulsive specimens of the race1 which seem to have been created with the express purpose of forming a link between man and the brute pure and simple4 ,by the side of many ,australian tribes1 the ,african negro himself assumes a value and dignity1 and seems to derive from a nobler source4 ,in many of the wretched inhabitants of this ,new ,world1 the size of the head1 the extreme thinness of the limbs1 the famished look of the body1 are absolutely hideous4 ,the hair is flat or wavy1 and generally woolly1 the flesh is black on a foundation of grey4 ,when1 after examining these types1 taken from all the quarters of the globe1 we finally come back to the inhabitants of ,europe1 and of ,south and ,west ,asia1 we find them so superior in beauty1 in just proportion of limb and regularity of feature1 that we are at once tempted to accept the conclusions of those who assert the multiplicity of races4 ,not only are these peoples more beautiful than the rest of mankind1 which is1 ,i confess1 a pestilent congregation of ugliness2#ej not only have they had the glory of giving the world such admirable types as a ,venus1 an ,apollo1 a ,farnese ,hercules2 but also there is a visible hierarchy of beauty established from ancient times even among themselves1 and in this natural aristocracy the ,europeans are the most eminent1 by their grace of outline and strength of muscular developement4 ,the most reasonable view appears to be that the families into which man is divided are as distinct as are animals of different species4 ,such was the conclusion drawn from simple observation1 and so long as only general facts were in question1 it seemed irrefutable4 ,camper was one of the first to reduce these observations to some kind of system4 ,he was no longer satisfied with merely superficial evidence1 but wished to give his proofs a mathematical foundation2 he tried to define anatomically the differences between races4 ,he succeeded in establishing a strict method that left no room for doubt1 and his views gained the numerical accuracy without which there can be no science4 ,his method was to take the front part of the skull and measure the inclination of the profile by means of two lines which he called the facial lines4 ,their intersection formed an angle1 the size of which gave the degree of elevation attained by the race to which the skull belonged4 ,one of these lines connected the base of the nose with the orifice of the ear2 the other was tangential to the most prominent part of the forehead and the jut of the upper jaw4 ,on the basis of the angle thus formed1 he constructed a scale including not only man but all kinds of animals4 ,at the top stood the ,european2 and the more acute the angle1 the further was the distance from the type which1 according to ,camper1 was the most perfect4 ,thus birds and fishes showed smaller angles than the various mammals4 ,a certain kind of ape reached #db1 and even #ej4 ,then came the heads of the ,african negro and the ,kalmuck1 which touched #gj4 ,the ,european stood at #hj1 and1 to quote the inventor's own words1 which are very flattering to our own type1 8,on this difference of #aj the superior beauty of the ,european1 what one might call his #8comparative beauty1' depends2 the #8absolute beauty' that is so striking in some of the works of ancient sculpture1 as in the head of ,apollo and the ,medusa of ,sosicles1 is the result of a still greater angle1 amounting in this instance to #ajj40ea ,this method was attractive by its simplicity4 ,unhappily1 the facts are against it1 as against so many systems4 ,by a series of accurate observations1 ,owen showed that1 in the case of monkeys1 ,camper had studied the skulls only of the young animals2 but since1 in the adults1 the growth of the teeth and jaws1 and the development of the zygomatic arch1 were not accompanied by a corresponding enlargement of the brain1 the numerical difference between these and human skulls was much greater than ,camper had supposed1 since the facial angle of the black orang-outang or the highest type of chimpanzee was at most #cj or #ce4 ,from this to the #gj of the negro and the ,kalmuck the gap was too great for ,camper's scale to have any significance4 ,camper's theory made considerable use of phrenology4 ,he attempted to discover a corresponding development of instinct as he mounted his scale from the animals to man4 ,but here too the facts were against him4 ,the elephant1 for example1 whose intelligence is certainly greater than the orang-outang's1 has a far more acute facial angle2 and even the most docile and intelligent monkeys do not belong to the species which are the 8highest0 in ,camper's series4 ,beside these two great defects1 the method is very open to attack in that it does not apply to all the varieties of the human race4 ,it leaves out of account the tribes with pyramidally shaped heads1 who form1 however1 a striking division by themselves4 ,blumenbach1 who held the field against his predecessor1 elaborated a system in his turn2 this was to study a man's head from the top4 ,he called his discovery norma verticalis1 the 8vertical method40 ,he was confident that the comparison of heads according to their width brought out the chief differences in the general configuration of the skull4 ,according to him1 the study of this part of the body is so pregnant with results1 especially in its bearing on national character1 that it is impossible to measure all the differences merely by lines and angles2 to reach a satisfying basis of classification1 we must consider the heads from the point of view in which we can take in at one glance the greatest number of varieties4 ,his idea was1 in outline1 as follows3 8,arrange the skulls that you wish to compare in such a way that the jaw-bones are on the same horizontal line2 in other words1 let each rest on its lower jaw4 ,then stand behind the skulls and fix the eye on the vertex of each4 ,in this way you will best see the varieties of shape that have most to do with national character2 these consist either 7#a7 in the direction of the jaw-bone and maxillary1 or 7#b7 in the breadth or narrowness of the oval outline presented by the top half of the skull1 or 7#c7 in the flattened or vaulted form of the frontal bone40#eb ,blumenbach's system resulted in the division of mankind into five main categories1 which were in their turn subdivided into a certain number of types and classes4 ,this classification was of very doubtful value4 ,like that of ,camper1 it overlooked many important characteristics4 ,it was partly to escape such objections that ,owen proposed to examine skulls1 not from the top1 but from the bottom4 ,one of the chief results of this new method was to show such a strong and definite line of difference between a man and an orang-outang that it became for ever impossible to find the link that ,camper imagined to exist between the two species4 ,in fact1 one glance at the two skulls1 from ,owen's point of view1 is enough to bring out their radical difference4 ,the diameter from front to back is longer in the orang-outang than in man2 the zygomatic arch1 instead of being wholly in the front part of the base1 is in the middle1 and occupies just a third of its diameter4 ,finally the position of the occipital orifice1 which has such a marked influence on general structure and habits1 is quite different4 ,in the skull of a man1 it is almost at the centre of the base2 in that of an orang-outang1 it is a sixth of the way from the hinder end4#ec ,owen's observations have1 no doubt1 considerable value2 ,i would prefer1 however1 the most recent of the craniological systems1 which is at the same time1 in many ways1 the most ingenious1 ,i mean that of the ,american scholar ,morton1 adopted by ,carus4#ed ,in outline this is as follows3 ,to show the difference of races1 ,morton and ,carus started from the idea1 that the greater the size of the skull1 the higher the type to which the individual belonged1 and they set out to investigate whether the development of the skull is equal in all the human races4 ,to solve this question1 ,morton took a certain number of heads belonging to whites1 ,mongols1 negroes1 and ,redskins of ,north ,america4 ,he stopped all the openings with cotton1 except the foramen magnum1 and completely filled the inside with carefully dried grains of pepper4 ,he then compared the number of grains in each4 ,this gave him the following table3 ,number of,average,maximum,minimum skulls number number number measured4 of of of grains4grains4grains4 ,white races #eb #hg #aji #ge ,yellow races,mongols #aj #hc #ic #fi ,malays #ah #ha #hi #fd ,redskins #adg #hb #ajj #fj ,negroes #bi #gh #id #fe ,the results set down in the first two columns are certainly very curious4 ,on the other hand1 ,i attach little importance to those in the last two2 for if the extraordinary variations from the average in the second column are to have any real significance1 ,morton should have taken a far greater number of skulls1 and further1 have given details as to the social position of those to whom the skulls belonged4 ,he was probably able to procure1 in the case of the whites and the ,redskins1 heads which had belonged to men at any rate above the lowest level of society1 while it is not likely that he had access to the skulls of negro chiefs1 or of ,chinese mandarins4 ,this explains how he has been able to assign the number #ajj to an ,american ,indian1 while the most intelligent ,mongol whom he has examined does not rise above #ic1 and is thus inferior even to the negro1 who reaches #id4 ,such results are a mere matter of chance4 ,they are quite incomplete and unscientific2 in such questions1 however1 one cannot be too careful to avoid judgments founded merely on individual cases4 ,i am inclined therefore to reject altogether the second half of ,morton's calculations4 ,i must also question one detail in the other half4 ,in the second column1 there is a clear gradation from the number #hg1 indicating the capacity of the white man's skull1 to the numbers #hc and #gh for the yellow and black man respectively4 ,but the figures #hc1 #ha1 #hb1 for the ,mongols1 ,malays1 and ,redskins1 give average results which evidently shade into one another2 all the more so1 because ,carus does not hesitate to count the ,mongols and ,malays as the same race1 and consequently to put the numbers #hc and #ha together4 ,but1 in that case1 why allow the number #hb to mark a distinct race1 and thus create arbitrarily a fourth great division of mankind8 ,this anomaly1 however1 actually buttresses the weak point in ,carus' system4 ,he likes to think that1 just as we see our planet pass through the four stages of day and night1 evening and morning twilight1 so there must be in the human species four subdivisions corresponding to these4 ,he sees here a symbol1 which is always a temptation for a subtle mind4 ,carus yields to it1 as many of his learned fellow-countrymen would have done in his place4 ,the white races are the nations of the day2 the black those of the night2 the yellow those of the ,eastern1 and the red those of the ,western twilight4 ,we may easily guess the ingenious comparisons suggested by such a picture4 ,thus1 the ,european nations1 owing to the brilliance of their scientific knowledge and the clear outlines of their civilization1 are obviously in the full glare of day1 while the negroes sleep in the darkness of ignorance1 and the ,chinese live in a half-light that gives them an incomplete1 though powerful1 social development4 ,as for the ,redskins1 who are gradually disappearing from the earth1 where can we find a more beautiful image of their fate than the setting sun8 ,unhappily1 comparison is not proof1 and by yielding too easily to this poetic impulse1 ,carus has a little damaged his fine theory4 ,the same charge also may be levelled at this as at the other ethnological doctrines2 ,carus does not manage to include in a systematic whole the various physiological differences between one race and another4#ee ,the supporters of the theory of racial unity have not failed to seize on this weak point1 and to claim that1 where we cannot arrange the observations on the shape of the skull in such a way as to constitute a proof of the original separation of types1 we must no longer consider the variations as pointing to any radical difference1 but merely regard them as the result of secondary and isolated causes1 with no specific relevance4 ,the cry of victory may be raised a little too soon4 ,it may be hard to find the correct method1 without being necessarily impossible4 ,the 8unitarians10 however1 do not admit this reservation4 ,they support their view by observing that certain tribes that belong to the same race show a very different physical type4 ,they cite1 for instance1 the various branches of the hybrid ,malayo-,polynesian family1 without taking account of the proportion in which the elements are mingled in each case4 ,if groups 7they say7 with a common origin can show quite a different conformation of features and skull1 the unity of the human race cannot be disproved along these lines at all4 ,however foreign the negro or ,mongol type may appear to ,european eyes1 this is no evidence of their different origin2 the reasons why the human families have diverged will be found nearer to hand1 and we may regard these physiological deviations merely as the result of certain local causes acting for a definite period of time4#ef ,in face of so many objections1 good and bad1 the champions of multiplicity tried to extend the sphere of their arguments4 ,relying no longer on the mere study of skulls1 they passed to that of the individual man as a whole4 ,in order to prove 7as is quite true7 that the differences do not merely lie in the facial appearance and the bony conformation of the head1 they brought forward other important differences with regard to the shape of the pelvis1 the proportions of the limbs1 the colour of the skin1 and the nature of the capillary system4 ,camper and other anthropologists had already recognized that the pelvis of the negro showed certain peculiarities4 ,dr4 ,vrolik pushed these inquiries further1 and observed that the difference between the male and female pelvis was far less marked in the ,european1 while in the negro race he saw in the pelvis of both sexes a considerable approximation to the brute4 ,assuming that the configuration of the pelvis necessarily affected that of the embryo1 he inferred a difference of origin4#eg ,weber attacked this theory1 with little result4 ,he had to recognize that some formations of the pelvis were found in one race more frequently than in another2 and all he could do was to show that there were some exceptions to ,vrolik's rule1 and that certain ,american1 ,african1 and ,mongolian specimens showed formations that were usually confined to ,europeans4 ,this does not prove very much1 especially as1 in speaking of these exceptions1 ,weber does not seem to have inquired whether the peculiar configuration in question might not result from a mixture of blood4 ,with regard to the size of the limbs1 the opponents of a common origin assert that the ,european is better proportioned4 ,the answer--which is a good one--is that we have no reason to be surprised at the thinness of the extremities in peoples who live mainly on vegetables or have not generally enough to eat4 ,but as against the argument from the extraordinary development of the bust among the ,quichuas1 the critics who refuse to recognize this as a specific difference are on less firm ground4 ,their contention that the development among the mountaineers of ,peru is explained by the height of the ,andes1 is hardly serious4 ,there are many mountain-peoples in the world who are quite differently constituted from the ,quichuas4#eh ,the next point is the colour of the skin4 ,the unitarians deny this any specific influence1 first because the colour depends on facts of climate1 and is not permanent--a very bold assertion2 secondly because the colour is capable of infinite gradation1 passing insensibly from white to yellow1 from yellow to black1 without showing a really definite line of cleavage4 ,this proves nothing but the existence of a vast number of hybrids1 a fact which the unitarians are continually neglecting1 to the great prejudice of their theory4 ,as to the specific character of the hair1 ,flourens is of opinion that this is no argument against an original unity of race4 ,after this rapid review of the divergent theories ,i come to the great scientific stronghold of the unitarians1 an argument of great weight1 which ,i have kept to the end--,i mean the ease with which the different branches of the human family create hybrids1 and the fertility of these hybrids4 ,the observations of naturalists seem to prove that1 in the animal or vegetable world1 hybrids can be produced only from allied species1 and that1 even so1 they are condemned to barrenness4 ,it has also been observed that between related species intercourse1 although possibly fertile1 is repugnant1 and usually has to be effected by trickery or force4 ,this would tend to show that in the free state the number of hybrids is even more limited than when controlled by man4 ,we may conclude that the power of producing fertile offspring is among the marks of a distinct species4 ,as nothing leads us to believe that the human race is outside this rule1 there is no answer to this argument1 which more than any other has served to hold in check the forces opposed to unity4 ,we hear1 it is true1 that in certain parts of ,oceania the native women who have become mothers by ,europeans are no longer fitted for impregnation by their own kind4 ,assuming this to be true1 we might make it the basis of a more profound inquiry2 but1 so far as the present discussion goes1 we could not use it to weaken the general principle of the fertility of human hybrids and the infertility of all others2 it has no bearing on any conclusions that may be drawn from this principle4 ,,chapter ,,xi ,,racial ,,differences ,,are ,,permanent ,the ,unitarians say that the separation of the races is merely apparent1 and due to local influences1 such as are still at work1 or to accidental variations of shape in the ancestor of some particular branch4 ,all mankind is1 for them1 capable of the same improvement2 the original type1 though more or less disguised1 persists in unabated strength1 and the negro1 the ,american savage1 the ,tungusian of ,northern ,siberia1 can attain a beauty of outline equal to that of the ,european1 and would do so1 if they were brought up under similar conditions4 ,this theory cannot be accepted4 ,we have seen above that the strongest scientific rampart of the ,unitarians lay in the fertility of human hybrids4 ,up to now1 this has been very difficult to refute1 but perhaps it will not always be so2 at any rate1 ,i should not think it worth while to pause over this argument if it were not supported by another1 of a very different kind1 which1 ,i confess1 gives me more concern4 ,it is said that ,genesis does not admit of a multiple origin for our species4 ,if the text is clear1 positive1 peremptory1 and incontestable1 we must bow our heads2 the greatest doubts must yield1 reason can only declare herself imperfect and inferior1 the origin of mankind is single1 and everything that seems to prove the contrary is merely a delusive appearance4 ,it is better to let darkness gather round a point of scholarship1 than to enter the lists against such an authority4 ,but if the ,bible is not explicit1 if the ,holy ,scriptures1 which were written to shed light on quite other questions than those of race1 have been misunderstood1 and if without doing them violence one can draw a different meaning from them1 then ,i shall not hesitate to go forward4 ,we must1 of course1 acknowledge that ,adam is the ancestor of the white race4 ,the scriptures are evidently meant to be so understood1 for the generations deriving from him are certainly white4 ,this being admitted1 there is nothing to show that1 in the view of the first compilers of the ,adamite genealogies1 those outside the white race were counted as part of the species at all4 ,not a word is said about the yellow races1 and it is only an arbitrary interpretation of the text that makes us regard the patriarch ,ham as black4 ,of course the translators and commentators1 in calling ,adam the common ancestor of all men1 have had to enrol among his descendants all the peoples who have lived since his time4 ,according to them1 the ,european nations are of the stock of ,japhet1 hither ,asia was occupied by the ,semites1 and the regions of ,africa by the ,hamites1 who are1 as ,i say1 unreasonably considered to be of negro origin4 ,the whole scheme fits admirably together--for one part of the world4 ,but what about the other part8 ,it is simply left out4 ,for the moment1 ,i do not insist on this line of argument4 ,i do not wish to run counter to even literal interpretations of the text1 if they are generally accepted4 ,i will merely point out that we might1 perhaps1 doubt their value1 without going beyond the limits imposed by the ,church2 and then ,i will ask whether we may admit the basic principle of the unitarians1 such as it is1 and yet somehow explain the facts otherwise than they do4 ,in other words1 ,i will simply ask whether independently of any question of an original unity or multiplicity1 there may not exist the most radical and far-reaching differences1 both physical and moral1 between human races4 ,the racial identity of all the different kinds of dog is admitted by ,frdric ,cuvier among others2#ei but no one would say that in all dogs1 without distinction of species1 we find the same shapes1 instincts1 habits1 and qualities4 ,the same is true of horses1 bulls1 bears1 and the like4 ,everywhere we see identity of origin1 diversity of everything else1 a diversity so deep that it cannot be lost except by crossing1 and even then the products do not return to a real identity of nature4 ,on the other hand1 so long as the race is kept pure1 the special characteristics remain unchanged1 and are reproduced for generations without any appreciable difference4 ,this fact1 which is indisputable1 has led some to ask whether in the various kinds of domestic animals we can recognize the shapes and instincts of the primitive stock4 ,the question seems for ever insoluble4 ,it is impossible to determine the form and nature of a primitive type1 and to be certain how far the specimens we see to-day deviate from it4 ,the same problem is raised in the case of a large number of vegetables4 ,man especially1 whose origin offers a more interesting study than that of all the rest1 seems to resist all explanation1 from this point of view4 ,the different races have never doubted that the original ancestor of the whole species had precisely their own characteristics4 ,on this point1 and this alone1 tradition is unanimous4 ,the white peoples have made for themselves an ,adam and an ,eve that ,blumenbach would have called ,caucasian2 whereas in the 8,arabian ,nights0--a book which1 though apparently trivial1 is a mine of true sayings and well-observed facts--we read that some negroes regard ,adam and his wife as black1 and since these were created in the image of ,god1 ,god must also be black and the angels too1 while the prophet of ,god was naturally too near divinity to show a white skin to his disciples4 ,unhappily1 modern science has been able to provide no clue to the labyrinth of the various opinions4 ,no likely hypothesis has succeeded in lightening this darkness1 and in all probability the human races are as different from their common ancestor1 if they have one1 as they are from each other4 ,i will therefore assume without discussion the principle of unity2 and my only task1 in the narrow and limited field to which ,i am confining myself1 is to explain the actual deviation from the primitive type4 ,the causes are very hard to disentangle4 ,the theory of the unitarians attributes the deviation1 as ,i have already said1 to habits1 climate1 and locality4 ,it is impossible to agree with this4#fj ,changes have certainly been brought about in the constitution of races1 since the dawn of history1 by such external influences2 but they do not seem to have been important enough to be able to explain fully the many vital divergences that exist4 ,this will become clear in a moment4 ,i will suppose that there are two tribes which still bear a resemblance to the primitive type1 and happen to be living1 the one in a mountainous country in the interior of a continent1 the other on an island in the midst of the ocean4 ,the atmosphere and the food conditions of each will be quite different4 ,i will assume that the one has many ways of obtaining food1 the other very few4 ,further1 ,i will place the former in a cold climate1 the second under a tropical sun4 ,by this means the external contrast between them will be complete4 ,the course of time will add its own weight to the action of the natural forces1 and there is no doubt that the two groups will gradually accumulate some special characteristics which will distinguish them from each other4 ,but even after many centuries no vital or organic change will have taken place in their constitution4 ,this is proved by the fact that we find peoples of a very similar type1 living on opposite sides of the world and under quite different conditions1 of climate and everything else4 ,ethnologists are agreed on this point and some have even believed that the ,hottentots are a ,chinese colony--a hypothesis impossible on other grounds--on account of their likeness to the inhabitants of the ,celestial ,empire4#fa ,in the same way1 some have seen a great resemblance between the portraits we have of the ancient ,etruscans and the ,araucans of ,south ,america4 ,in features and general shape the ,cherokees seem almost identical with many of the ,italian peoples1 such as the ,calabrians4 ,the usual type of face among the inhabitants of ,auvergne1 especially the women1 is far less like the ordinary ,european's than that of many ,indian tribes of ,north ,america4 ,thus when we grant that nature can produce similar types in widely separated countries1 under different conditions of life and climate1 it becomes quite clear that the human races do not take their qualities from any of the external forces that are active at the present day4 ,i would not1 however1 deny that local conditions may favour the deepening of some particular skin-colour1 the tendency to obesity1 the development of the chest muscles1 the lengthening of the arms or the lower limbs1 the increase or decrease of physical strength4 ,but1 ,i repeat1 these are not essential points2 and to judge from the very slight difference made by the alteration of local conditions in the shape of the body1 there is no reason to believe that they have ever had very much influence4 ,this is an argument of considerable weight4 ,although we do not know what cataclysmal changes may have been effected in the physical organization of the races before the dawn of history1 we may at least observe that this period extends only to about half the age attributed to our species4 ,if for three or four thousand years the darkness is impenetrable1 we still have another period of three thousand years1 of which we can go right back to the beginning in the case of certain nations4 ,everything tends to show that the races which were then known1 and which have remained relatively pure since that time1 have not greatly changed in their outward appearance1 although some of them no longer live in the same places1 and so are no longer affected by the same external causes4 ,take1 for example1 the ,arabs of the stock of ,ishmael4 ,we still find them1 just as they are represented in the ,egyptian monuments1 not only in the parched deserts of their own land1 but in the fertile1 and often damp1 regions of ,malabar and the ,coromandel ,coast1 in the islands of the ,indies1 and on many points of the north coast of ,africa1 where they are1 as a fact1 more mixed than anywhere else4 ,traces of them are still found in some parts of ,roussillon1 ,languedoc1 and the ,spanish coast1 although almost two centuries have passed away since their invasion4 ,if the mere influence of environment had the power1 as is supposed1 of setting up and taking away the limits between organic types1 it would have not allowed these to persist so long4 ,the change of place would have been followed by a corresponding change of form4 ,after the ,arabs1 ,i will mention the ,jews1 who are still more remarkable in this connexion1 as they have settled in lands with very different climates from that of ,palestine1 and have given up their ancient mode of life4 ,the ,jewish type has1 however1 remained much the same2 the modifications it has undergone are of no importance and have never been enough1 in any country or latitude1 to change the general character of the race4 ,the warlike ,rechabites of the ,arabian desert1 the peaceful ,portuguese1 ,french1 ,german1 and ,polish ,jews--they all look alike4 ,i have had the opportunity of examining closely one of the last kind4 ,his features and profile clearly betrayed his origin4 ,his eyes especially were unforgettable4 ,this denizen of the north1 whose immediate ancestors had lived1 for many generations1 in the snow1 seemed to have been just tanned by the rays of the ,syrian sun4 ,the ,semitic face looks exactly the same1 in its main characteristics1 as it appears on the ,egyptian paintings of three or four thousand years ago1 and more2 and we find it also1 in an equally striking and recognizable form1 under the most varied and disparate conditions of climate4 ,the identity of descendant and ancestor does not stop at the features2 it continues also in the shape of the limbs and the temperament4 ,the ,german ,jews are usually smaller and more slender in build than the men of ,european race among whom they have lived for centuries4 ,further1 the marriageable age is much earlier among them than among their fellow-countrymen of another race4#fb ,this1 by the way1 is an assertion diametrically opposed to the opinion of ,prichard1 who in his zeal for proving the unity of the species1 tries to show that the age of puberty1 for the two sexes1 is the same everywhere and in all races4#fc ,the reasons which he advances are drawn from the ,old ,testament in the case of the ,jews1 and1 in the case of the ,arabs1 from the religious law of the ,koran1 by which the age of marriage is fixed1 for girls1 at fifteen1 and even 7in the opinion of ,abu-,hanifah7 at eighteen4 ,these two arguments seem very questionable4 ,in the first place1 the ,biblical evidence is not admissible on this point1 as it often includes facts that contradict the ordinary course of nature4 ,sarah1 for example1 was brought to bed of a child in extreme old age1 when ,abraham himself had reached a hundred years2#fd to such an event ordinary reasoning cannot apply4 ,secondly1 as to the views and ordinances of the ,mohammedan law1 ,i may say that the ,koran did not intend merely to make sure of the physical fitness of the woman before authorizing the marriage4 ,it wished her also to be far enough advanced in education and intelligence to be able to understand the serious duties of her new position4 ,this is shown by the pains taken by the prophet to prescribe that the girl's religious instruction shall be continued to the time of her marriage4 ,it is easy to see why1 from this point of view1 the day should have been put off as long as possible and why the law-giver thought it so important to develop the reasoning powers1 instead of being as hasty in his ordinances as nature is in hers4 ,this is not all4 ,against the serious evidence brought forward by ,prichard1 there are some conclusive arguments1 though of a lighter nature1 that decide the question in favour of my view4 ,the poets1 in their stories of love1 are concerned merely with showing their heroines in the flower of their beauty1 without thinking of their moral development2 and the ,oriental poets have always made their girl-lovers younger than the age prescribed by the ,koran4 ,zuleika and ,leila are certainly not yet fourteen4 ,in ,india1 the difference is still more marked4 ,sakuntala would be a mere child in ,europe4 ,the best age of love for an ,indian girl is from nine to twelve years4 ,it is a very general opinion1 long accepted and established among the ,indian1 ,persian1 and ,arab races1 that the spring of life1 for a woman1 flowers at an age that we should call a little precocious4 ,our own writers have for long followed the lead1 in this matter1 of their ,roman models4 ,these1 like their ,greek teachers1 regarded fifteen as the best age4 ,since our literature has been influenced by ,northern ideas1#fe we have seen in our novels nothing but girls of eighteen1 or even older4 ,returning now to more serious arguments1 we find them equally abundant4 ,in addition to what ,i have said about the ,german ,jews1 it may be mentioned that in many parts of ,switzerland the sexual development of the people is so slow that1 in the case of the men1 it is not always complete at twenty4 ,the ,bohemians1 or ,zingaris1 yield another set of results1 which are easily verified4 ,they show the same early development as the ,hindus1 who are akin to them2 and under the most inclement skies1 in ,russia and in ,moldavia1 they still keep the expression and shape of the face and the physical proportions1 as well as the ideas and customs1 of the pariahs4#ff ,i do not1 however1 mean to oppose ,prichard on every point4 ,one of his conclusions ,i gratefully adopt1 namely that 8difference of climate occasions very little1 if any1 important diversity as to the periods of life and the physical changes to which the human constitution is subject40#fg ,this remark is very true1 and ,i would not dream of contesting it4 ,i merely add that it seems to contradict to some slight extent the principles otherwise upheld by the learned ,american physiologist and antiquary4 ,the reader will not fail to see that the question on which the argument here turns is that of the permanence of types4 ,if we have shown that the human races are each1 as it were1 shut up in their own individuality1 and can only issue from it by a mixture of blood1 the unitarian theory will find itself very hard-pressed4 ,it will have to recognize that1 if the types are thus absolutely fixed1 hereditary1 and permanent1 in spite of climate and lapse of time1 mankind is no less completely and definitely split into separate parts1 than it would be if specific differences were due to a real divergence of origin4 ,it now becomes an easy matter for us to maintain this important conclusion1 which we have seen to be amply supported1 in the case of the ,arabs1 by the evidence of ,egyptian sculpture1 and also by the observation of ,jews and gipsies4 ,at the same time there is no reason for rejecting the valuable help given by the paintings in the temples and underground chambers in the valley of the ,nile1 which equally show the permanence of the ,negro type1 with its woolly hair1 prognathous head1 and thick lips4 ,the recent discovery of the bas-reliefs at ,khorsabad confirm what was already known from the sculptured tombs of ,persepolis1 and themselves prove1 with absolute certainty1 that the ,assyrians are physiologically identical with the peoples who occupy their territory at the present day4 ,if we had a similar body of evidence with regard to other races still living1 the result would be the same4 ,the fact of the permanence of types would merely be more fully demonstrated4 ,it is enough however to have established it in all the cases where observation was possible4 ,it is now for those who disagree to propose objections4 ,they have no means of doing so1 and their line of defence shows them either contradicting themselves from the start1 or making some assertion quite contrary to the obvious facts4 ,for example1 they say that the ,jewish type has changed with the climate1 whereas the facts show the opposite4 ,they base their argument on the existence in ,germany of many fair-haired ,jews with blue eyes4#fh ,for this to have any value from the unitarian point of view1 climate would have to be regarded as the sole1 or at any rate the chief1 cause of the phenomenon2 whereas the unitarians themselves admit that the colour of the skin1 eyes1 and hair in no way depends either on geographical situation or on the influence of cold or heat4#fi ,they rightly mention the presence of blue eyes and fair hair among the ,cingalese2#gj they even notice a considerable variation from light brown to black4 ,again1 they admit that the ,samoyedes and ,tungusians1 although living on the borders of the ,arctic ,ocean1 are very swarthy4#ga ,thus the climate counts for nothing so far as the colouring of the skin1 hair1 and eyes is concerned4 ,we must regard them either as having no significance at all1 or as vitally bound up with race4 ,we know1 for example1 that red hair is not1 and never has been1 rare in the ,east2 and so no one need be surprised to find it to-day in some ,german ,jews4 ,such a fact has no influence1 one way or the other1 on the theory of the permanence of types4 ,the unitarians are no more fortunate when they call in history to help them4 ,they give only two instances to prove their theory--the ,turks and the ,magyars4 ,the ,asiatic origin of the former is taken as self-evident1 as well as their close relation to the ,finnish stocks of the ,ostiaks and the ,laplanders4 ,hence they had in primitive times the yellow face1 prominent cheek-bones1 and short stature of the ,mongols4 ,having settled this point1 our unitarian turns to their descendants of to-day2 and finding them of a ,european type1 with long thick beards1 eyes almond-shaped1 but no longer slanting1 he concludes triumphantly1 from this utter transformation of the ,turks1 that there is no permanence in race4#gb 8,some people10 he says in effect1 8have certainly supposed in them a mixture of ,greek1 ,georgian1 and ,circassian blood4 ,but this mixture has been only partial4 ,not all ,turks have been rich enough to buy wives from the ,caucasus2 not all have had harems filled with white slaves4 ,on the other hand1 the hatred felt by the ,greeks towards their conquerors1 and religious antipathy in general1 have been unfavourable to such alliances2 though the two peoples live together1 they are just as much separated in spirit at the present time as on the first day of the conquest40#gc ,these reasons are more specious than solid4 ,we can only admit provisionally the ,finnish origin of the ,turkish race4 ,up to now1 it has been supported only by a single argument1 the affinity of language4 ,i will show later how the argument from language1 when taken alone1 is peculiarly open to doubt and criticism4 ,assuming however that the ancestors of the ,turkish people belonged to the yellow race1 we can easily show that they had excellent reasons for keeping themselves apart from it4 ,from the time when the first ,turanian hordes descended from the north-east to that when they made themselves masters of the city of ,constantine1 a period comprising many centuries1 great changes passed over the world2 and the ,western ,turks suffered many vicissitudes of fortune4 ,they were in turn victors and vanquished1 slaves and masters2 and very diverse were the peoples among whom they settled4 ,according to the annalists1#gd the ,oghuzes1 their ancestors1 came down from the ,altai ,mountains1 and1 in the time of ,abraham lived in the immense steppes of ,upper ,asia that extend from the ,katai to ,lake ,aral1 from ,siberia to ,tibet4 ,this is the ancient and mysterious domain that was still inhabited by many ,germanic peoples4#ge ,it is a curious fact that as soon as ,eastern writers begin to speak of the peoples of ,turkestan1 they praise their beauty of face and stature4#gf ,hyperbolic expressions are the rule1 in this connexion2 and as these writers had the beautiful types of the ancient world before their eyes1 as a standard1 it is not very likely that their enthusiasm should have been aroused by the sight of creatures so incontrovertibly ugly and repulsive as the ordinary specimens of the ,mongolian race4 ,thus in spite of the linguistic argument1 which may itself be wrongly used1#gg we might still make out a good case for our view4 ,but we will concede the point1 and admit that the ,oghuzes of the ,altai were really a ,finnish people2 and we will pass on to the ,mohammedan period1 when the ,turkish tribes were established1 under different names and varied circumstances1 in ,persia and ,asia ,minor4 ,the ,osmanlis did not as yet exist1 and their ancestors1 the ,seljukians1 were already closely connected in blood with the races of ,islam4 ,the chiefs of this people1 such as ,gayaseddin-,keikosrev1 in #abcg1 freely intermarried with ,arab women4 ,they did better still2 for ,aseddin1 the mother of another line of ,seljukian princes1 was a ,christian4 ,in all countries the chiefs watch more jealously than the common people over the purity of their race2 and when a chief showed himself so free from prejudice1 it is at least permissible to assume that his subjects were not more scrupulous4 ,as the continual raids of the ,seljukians offered them every opportunity to seize slaves throughout the vast territory which they overran1 there is no doubt that1 from the thirteenth century1 the ancient ,oghuz stock1 with which the ,seljukians of ,rm claimed a distant kinship1 was permeated to a great extent with ,semitic blood4 ,from this branch sprang ,osman1 the son of ,ortoghrul and father of the ,osmanlis4 ,the families that collected round his tent were not very numerous4 ,his army was no more than a robber-band2 and if the early successors of this nomad ,romulus were able to increase it1 they did so merely by following the practice of the founder of ,rome1 and opening their tents to anyone who wished to enter4 ,it may be assumed that the fall of the ,seljukian ,empire helped to send recruits of their own race to the ,osmanlis4 ,it is clear that this race had undergone considerable change2 besides1 even these new resources were not enough1 for from this time the ,turks began to make systematic slave-raids1 with the express object of increasing their own population4 ,at the beginning of the fourteenth century1 ,urkan1 at the instance of ,khalil ,chendereli the ,black1 founded the ,guard of ,janissaries4 ,at first these were only a thousand strong4 ,but under ,mohammed ,,iv the new guard numbered #adj1jjj2 and as up to this time the ,turks had been careful to fill up the ranks only with ,christian children taken from ,poland1 ,germany1 and ,italy1 or from ,european ,turkey itself1 and then converted to ,islam1 there were in four centuries at least #ejjj heads of families who infused ,european blood into the veins of the ,turkish nation4 ,the racial admixture did not end here4 ,the main object of the piracy practised on such a large scale throughout the ,mediterranean was to fill up the harems4 ,further 7a still more conclusive fact7 there was no battle1 whether lost or won1 that did not increase the number of the ,faithful4 ,a considerable number of the males changed their religion1 and counted henceforth as ,turks4 ,again1 the country surrounding the field of battle was overrun by the troops and yielded them all the women they could seize4 ,the plunder was often so abundant that they had difficulty in disposing of it2 the most beautiful girl was bartered for a jackboot4#gh ,when we consider this in connexion with the population of ,asiatic and ,european ,turkey1 which has1 as we know1 never exceeded twelve millions1 we see clearly that the arguments for or against the permanence of racial type find no support whatever in the history of such a mixed people as the ,turks4 ,this is so self-evident1 that when we notice1 as we often do1 some characteristic features of the yellow race in an ,osmanli1 we cannot attribute this directly to his ,finnish origin2 it is simply the effect of ,slav or ,tartar blood1 exhibiting1 at second hand1 the foreign elements it had itself absorbed4 ,having finished my observations on the ethnology of the ,ottomans1 ,i pass to the ,magyars4 ,the unitarian theory is backed by such arguments as the following3 8,the ,magyars are of ,finnish origin1 and allied to the ,laplanders1 ,samoyedes1 and ,eskimos4 ,these are all people of low stature1 with wide faces and prominent cheek-bones1 yellowish or dirty brown in colour4 ,the ,magyars1 however1 are tall and well set up2 their limbs are long1 supple and vigorous1 their features are of marked beauty1 and resemble those of the white nations4 ,the ,finns have always been weak1 unintelligent1 and oppressed4 ,the ,magyars take a high place among the conquerors of the world4 ,they have enslaved others1 but have never been slaves themselves4 ,thus1 since the ,magyars are ,finns1 and are so different1 physically and morally1 from all the other branches of their primitive stock1 they must have changed enormously40#gi ,if such a change had really taken place1 it would be so extraordinary as to defy all explanation1 even by the unitarians1 however great the modifications that may be assumed in these particular types2 for the transformation-scene would have taken place between the end of the ninth century and the present day1 that is1 in about #hjj years4 ,further1 we know that in this period ,st4 ,stephen's fellow-countrymen have not intermarried to any great extent with the nations among whom they live4 ,happily for common sense1 there is no need for surprise1 as the argument1 though otherwise perfect1 makes one vital mistake--the ,hungarians are certainly not ,finns4 ,in a well-written article1 ,a4 de ,gerando#hj has exploded the theories of ,schlotzer and his followers4 ,by weighty arguments drawn from ,greek and ,arab historians and ,hungarian annalists1 by facts and dates that defy criticism1 he has proved the kinship of the ,transylvanian tribe of the ,siculi with the ,huns1 and the identity in primitive times of the former with the last invaders of ,pannonia4 ,thus the ,magyars are ,huns4 ,here we shall no doubt be met by a further objection1 namely that though this argument may point to a different origin for the ,magyars1 it connects them just as intimately as the other with the yellow race4 ,this is an error4 ,the name 8,huns0 may denote a nation1 but it is also1 historically speaking1 a collective word4 ,the mass of tribes to which it refers is not homogeneous4 ,among the crowd of peoples enrolled under the banner of ,attila's ancestors1 certain bands1 known as the 8,white ,huns10 have always been distinguished4 ,in these the ,germanic element predominated4#ha ,contact with the yellow races had certainly affected the purity of their blood4 ,there is no mystery about this2 the fact is betrayed at once by the rather angular and bony features of the ,magyar4 ,the language is very closely related to some ,turkish dialects4 ,thus the ,magyars are ,white ,huns1 though they have been wrongly made out to be a yellow race1 a confusion caused1 by their intermarriages in the past 7whether voluntary or otherwise7 with ,mongolians4 ,they are really1 as we have shown1 cross-breeds with a ,germanic basis4 ,the roots and general vocabulary of their language are quite different from those of the ,germanic family2 but exactly the same was the case with the ,scythians1 a yellow race speaking an ,aryan dialect1#hb and with the ,scandinavians of ,neustria1 who were1 after some years of conquest1 led to adopt the ,celto-,latin dialect of their subjects4#hc ,nothing warrants the belief that lapse of time1 difference of climate1 or change of customs should have turned a ,laplander or an ,ostiak1 a ,tungusian or a ,permian1 into a ,st4 ,stephen4 ,i conclude1 from this refutation of the only arguments brought forward by the unitarians1 that the permanence of racial types is beyond dispute2 it is so strong and indestructible that the most complete change of environment has no power to overthrow it1 so long as no crossing takes place4 ,whatever side1 therefore1 one may take in the controversy as to the unity or multiplicity of origin possessed by the human species1 it is certain that the different families are to-day absolutely separate2 for there is no external influence that could cause any resemblance between them or force them into a homogeneous mass4 ,the existing races constitute separate branches of one or many primitive stocks4 ,these stocks have now vanished4 ,they are not known in historical times at all1 and we cannot form even the most general idea of their qualities4 ,they differed from each other in the shape and proportion of the limbs1 the structure of the skull1 the internal conformation of the body1 the nature of the capillary system1 the colour of the skin1 and the like2 and they never succeeded in losing their characteristic features except under the powerful influence of the crossing of blood4 ,this permanence of racial qualities is quite sufficient to generate the radical unlikeness and inequality that exists between the different branches1 to raise them to the dignity of natural laws1 and to justify the same distinctions being drawn with regard to the physiological life of nations1 as ,i shall show1 later1 to be applicable to their moral life4 ,owing to my respect for a scientific authority which ,i cannot overthrow1 and1 still more1 for a religious interpretation that ,i could not venture to attack1 ,i must resign myself to leaving on one side the grave doubts that are always oppressing me as to the question of original unity2 and ,i will now try to discover as far as ,i can1 with the resources that are still left to me1 the probable causes of these ultimate physiological differences4 ,as no one will venture to deny1 there broods over this grave question a mysterious darkness1 big with causes that are at the same time physical and supernatural4 ,in the inmost recesses of the obscurity that shrouds the problem1 reign the causes which have their ultimate home in the mind of ,god2 the human spirit feels their presence without divining their nature1 and shrinks back in awful reverence4 ,it is probable that the earthly agents to whom we look for the key of the secret are themselves but instruments and petty springs in the great machine4 ,the origins of all things1 of all events and movements1 are not infinitely small1 as we are often pleased to say1 but on the contrary so vast1 so immeasurable by the poor foot-rule of man's intelligence1 that while we may perhaps have some vague suspicion of their existence1 we can never hope to lay hands on them or attain to any sure discovery of their nature4 ,just as in an iron chain that is meant to lift up a great weight it frequently happens that the link nearest the object is the smallest1 so the proximate cause may often seem insignificant2 and if we merely consider it in isolation1 we tend to forget the long series that has gone before4 ,this alone gives it meaning1 but this1 in all its strength and might1 derives from something that human eye has never seen4 ,we must not therefore1 like the fool in the old adage1 wonder at the power of the roseleaf to make the water overflow2 we should rather think that the reason of the accident lay in the depths of the water that filled the vessel to overflowing4 ,let us yield all respect to the primal and generating causes1 that dwell far off in heaven1 and without which nothing would exist2 conscious of the ,divine power that moves them1 they rightly claim a part of the veneration we pay to their ,infinite ,creator4 ,but let us abstain from speaking of them here4 ,it is not fitting for us to leave the human sphere1 where alone we may hope to meet with certainty4 ,all we can do is to seize the chain1 if not by the last small link1 at any rate by that part of it which we can see and touch1 without trying to catch at what is beyond our reach--a task too difficult for mortal man4 ,there is no irreverence in saying this2 on the contrary1 it expresses the sincere conviction of a weakness that is insurmountable4 ,man is a new-comer in this world4 ,geology--proceeding merely by induction1 but attacking its problems in a marvellously systematic way--asserts that man is absent from all the oldest strata of the earth's surface4 ,there is no trace of him among the fossils4 ,when our ancestors appeared for the first time in an already aged world1 ,god1 according to ,scripture1 told them that they would be its masters and have dominion over everything on earth4 ,this promise was given not so much to them as to their descendants2 for these first feeble creatures seem to have been provided with very few means1 not merely of conquering the whole of nature1 but even of resisting its weakest attacks4#hd ,the ethereal heavens had seen1 in former epochs1 beings far more imposing than man rise from the muddy earth and the deep waters4 ,most of these gigantic races had1 no doubt1 disappeared in the terrible revolutions in which the inorganic world had shown a power so immeasurably beyond that possessed by animate nature4 ,a great number1 however1 of these monstrous creatures were still living4 ,every region was haunted by herds of elephants and rhinoceroses1 and even the mastodon has left traces of its existence in ,american tradition4#he ,these last remnants of the monsters of an earlier day were more than enough to impress the first members of our species with an uneasy feeling of their own inferiority1 and a very modest view of their problematic royalty4 ,it was not merely the animals from whom they had to wrest their disputed empire4 ,these could in the last resort be fought1 by craft if not by force1 and in default of conquest could be avoided by flight4 ,the case was quite different with ,nature1 that immense ,nature that surrounded the primitive families on all sides1 held them in a close grip1 and made them feel in every nerve her awful power4#hf ,the cosmic causes of the ancient cataclysms1 although feebler1 were always at work4 ,partial upheavals still disturbed the relative positions of earth and ocean4 ,sometimes the level of the sea rose and swallowed up vast stretches of coast2 sometimes a terrible volcanic eruption would vomit from the depths of the waters some mountainous mass1 to become part of a continent4 ,the world was still in travail1 and ,jehovah had not calmed it by 8seeing that it was good40 ,this general lack of equilibrium necessarily reacted on atmospheric conditions4 ,the strife of earth1 fire1 and water brought with it complete and rapid changes of heat1 cold1 dryness1 and humidity4 ,the exhalations from the ground1 still shaken with earthquake1 had an irresistible influence on living creatures4 ,the causes that enveloped the globe with the breath of battle and suffering could not but increase the pressure brought to bear by nature on man4 ,differences of climate and environment acted on our first parents far more effectively than to-day4 ,cuvier1 in his 8,treatise on the revolutions of the globe10 says that the inorganic forces of the present day would be quite incapable of causing convulsions and upheavals1 or new arrangements of the earth's surface1 such as those to which geology bears witness4 ,the changes that were wrought in the past on her own body by the awful might of nature would be impossible to-day2 she had a similar power over the human race1 but has it no longer4 ,her omnipotence has been so lost1 or at least so weakened and whittled away1 that in a period of years covering roughly half the life of our species on the earth1 she has brought about no change of any importance1 much less one that can be compared to that by which the different races were for ever marked off from each other4#hg ,two points are certain3 first that the main differences between the branches of our race were fixed in the earliest epoch of our terrestrial life2 secondly1 that in order to imagine a period when these physiological cleavages could have been brought about1 we must go back to the time when the influence of natural causes was far more active than it is now1 under the normal and healthy conditions4 ,such a time could be none other than that immediately after the creation1 when the earth was still shaken by its recent catastrophes and without any defence against the fearful effects of their last death-throes4 ,assuming the unitarian theory1 we cannot give any later date for the separation of types4 ,no argument can be based on the accidental deviations from the normal which are sometimes found in certain individual instances1 and which1 if transmitted1 would certainly give rise to important varieties4 ,without including such deformities as a hump-back1 some curious facts have been collected which seem1 at first sight1 to be of value in explaining the diversity of races4 ,to cite only one instance1 ,prichard#hh quotes ,baker's account of a man whose whole body1 with the exception of his face1 was covered with a sort of dark shell1 resembling a large collection of warts1 very hard and callous1 and insensible to pain2 when cut1 it did not bleed4 ,at different periods this curious covering1 after reaching a thickness of three-quarters of an inch1 would become detached1 and fall off2 it was then replaced by another1 similar in all respects4 ,four sons were born to him1 all resembling their father4 ,one survived2 but ,baker1 who saw him in infancy1 does not say whether he reached manhood4 ,he merely infers that since the father has produced such offspring1 8a race of people may be propagated by this man1 having such rugged coats and coverings as himself2 and if this should ever happen1 and the accidental original be forgotten1 it is not improbable they might be deemed a different species of mankind40 ,such a conclusion is possible4 ,individuals1 however1 who are so different as these from the species in general1 do not transmit their characteristics4 ,their posterity either returns to the regular path or is soon extinguished4 ,all things that deviate from the natural and normal order of the world can only borrow life for a time2 they are not fitted to keep it4 ,otherwise1 a succession of strange accidents would1 long before this1 have set mankind on a road far removed from the physiological conditions which have obtained1 without change1 throughout the ages4 ,we must conclude that impermanence is one of the essential and basic features of these anomalies4 ,we could not include in such a category the woolly hair and black skin of the negro1 or the yellow colour1 wide face1 and slanting eyes of the ,chinaman4 ,these are all permanent characteristics2 they are in no way abnormal1 and so cannot come from an accidental deviation4 ,we will now give a summary of the present chapter4 ,in face of the difficulties offered by the most liberal interpretation of the ,biblical text1 and the objection founded on the law regulating the generation of hybrids1 it is impossible to pronounce categorically in favour of a multiplicity of origin for the human species4 ,we must therefore be content to assign a lower cause to those clear-cut varieties of which the main quality is undoubtedly their permanence1 a permanence that can only be lost by a crossing of blood4 ,we can identify this cause with the amount of climatic energy possessed by the earth at a time when the human race had just appeared on its surface4 ,there is no doubt that the forces that inorganic nature could bring into play were far greater then than anything we have known since1 and under their pressure racial modifications were accomplished which would now be impossible4 ,probably1 too1 the creatures exposed to these tremendous forces were more liable to be affected by them than existing types would be4 ,man1 in his earliest stages1 assumed many unstable forms2 he did not perhaps belong1 in any definite manner1 to the white1 red1 or yellow variety4 ,the deviations that transformed the primitive characteristics of the species into the types established to-day were probably much smaller than those that would now be required for the black race1 for example1 to become assimilated to the white1 or the yellow to the black4 ,on this hypothesis1 we should have to regard ,adamite man as equally different from all the existing human groups2 these would have radiated all around him1 the distance between him and any group being double that between one group and another4 ,how much of the primitive type would the peoples of the different races have subsequently retained8 ,merely the most general characteristics of our species1 the vague resemblances of shape common to the most distant groups1 and the possibility of expressing their wants by articulate sounds--but nothing more4 ,the remaining features peculiar to primitive man would have been completely lost1 by the black as well as the non-black races2 and although we are all originally descended from him1 we should have owed to outside influences everything that gave us our distinctive and special character4 ,henceforth the human races1 the product of cosmic forces as well as of the primitive ,adamic stock1 would be very slightly1 if at all1 related to each other4 ,the power of giving birth to fertile hybrids would certainly be a perpetual proof of original connexion2 but it would be the only one4 ,as soon as the primal differences of environment had given each group its isolated character1 as a possession for ever--its shape1 features1 and colour--from that moment the link of primal unity would have been suddenly snapped2 the unity1 so far as influence on racial development went1 would be actually sterile4 ,the strict and unassailable permanence of form and feature to which the earliest historical documents bear witness would be the charter and sign-manual of the eternal separation of races4 ,,chapter ,,xii ,,how ,,the ,,races ,,were ,,physiologically ,,separated1 ,,and ,,the ,,different ,,varieties ,,formed ,,by ,,their ,,inter-,,mixture4 ,,they ,,are ,,unequal ,,in ,,strength ,,and ,,beauty ,the question of cosmic influences is one that ought to be fully cleared up1 as ,i am confining myself to arguments based on it4 ,the first problem with which ,i have to deal is the following3--8,how could men1 whose common origin implies a single starting-point1 have been exposed to such a diversity of influences from without80 ,after the first separation of races1 the groups were already numerous enough to be found under totally different conditions of climate2 how then1 considering the immense difficulties they had to contend against1 the vast forests and marshy plains they had to cross1 the sandy or snowy deserts1 the rivers1 lakes1 and oceans--how1 with all these obstacles1 did they manage to cover distances which civilized man to-day1 with all his developed power1 can only surmount with great toil and trouble8 ,to answer these objections1 we must try to discover where the human species had its original home4 ,a very ancient idea1 adopted also by some great modern minds1 such as ,cuvier1 is that the different mountain-systems must have served as the point of departure for certain races4 ,according to this theory1 the white races1 and even certain ,african varieties whose skull is shaped like our own1 had their first settlement in the ,caucasus4 ,the yellow race came down from the ice-bound heights of the ,altai4 ,again1 the tribes of prognathous negroes built their first huts on the southern slopes of ,mount ,atlas1 and made this the starting-point of their first migrations4 ,thus1 the frightful places of the earth1 difficult of access and full of gloomy horror--torrents1 caverns1 icy mountains1 eternal snows1 and impassable abysses--were actually more familiar to primitive ages than any others2 while all the terrors of the unknown lurked1 for our first ancestors1 in the uncovered plains1 on the banks of the great rivers1 on the coasts of the lakes and seas4 ,the chief motive urging the ancient philosophers to put forward this theory1 and the moderns to revive it1 seems to have been the idea that1 in order to pass successfully through the great physical crises of the world1 mankind must have collected on the mountain heights1 where the floods and inundations could not reach them4 ,this large and general interpretation of the tradition of ,ararat may suit perhaps the later epochs1 when the children of men had covered the face of the earth2 but it is quite inapplicable to the time of relative calm that marked their first appearance4 ,it is also contrary to all theories as to the unity of the species4 ,again1 mountains from the remotest times have been the object of profound terror and religious awe4 ,on them has been set1 by all mythologies1 the abode of the gods4 ,it was on the snowy peak of ,olympus1 it was on ,mount ,meru that the ,greeks and the ,brahmans imagined their divine synods4 ,it was on the summit of the ,caucasus that ,prometheus suffered the mysterious punishment of his still more mysterious crime4 ,if men had begun by making their home in the remote heights1 it is not likely that their imagination would have caused them to raise these to the height of heaven itself4 ,we have a scant respect for what we have seen and known and trodden underfoot4 ,there would have been no divinities but those of the waters and the plains4 ,hence ,i incline to the opposite belief1 that the flat and uncovered regions witnessed the first steps of man4 ,this is1 by the way1 the ,biblical notion4#hi ,after the first settlements were made in these parts1 the difficulties of accounting for migrations are sensibly diminished2 for flat regions are generally cut by rivers and reach down to the sea1 and so there would have been no need to undertake the difficult task of crossing forests1 deserts1 and great marshes4 ,there are two kinds of migrations1 the voluntary and the unexpected4 ,the former are out of the question in very early times4 ,the latter are more possible1 and more probable too1 among shiftless and unprepared savages than among civilised nations4 ,a family huddled together on a drifting raft1 a few unfortunate people surprised by an inrush of the sea1 clinging to trunks of trees1 and caught up by the currents--these are enough to account for a transplantation over long distances4 ,the weaker man is1 the more is he the sport of inorganic forces4 ,the less experience he has1 the more slavishly does he respond to accidents which he can neither foresee nor avoid4 ,there are striking examples of the ease with which men can be carried1 in spite of themselves1 over considerable distances4 ,thus1 we hear that in #afif two large canoes from ,ancorso1 containing about thirty savages1 men and women1 were caught in a storm1 and after drifting aimlessly some time1 finally arrived at ,samal1 one of the ,philippine ,islands1 three hundred leagues from their starting-point4 ,again1 four natives of ,ulea were carried out to sea in a canoe by a sudden squall4 ,they drifted about for eight months1 and reached at last one of the ,radack ,islands1 at the eastern end of the ,caroline ,archipelago1 after an involuntary voyage of #eej leagues4 ,these unfortunate men lived solely on fish1 and carefully collected every drop of rain they could4 ,when rain failed them1 they dived into the depths of the sea and drank the water there1 which1 they say1 is less salt4 ,naturally1 when they reached ,radack1 the travellers were in a deplorable state2 but they soon rallied1 and were eventually restored to health4#ij ,these two examples are a sufficient witness for the rapid diffusion of human groups in very different regions1 and under the most varied local conditions4 ,if further proofs were required1 we might mention the ease with which insects1 plants1 and testaceans are carried all over the world2 it is1 of course1 unnecessary to show that what happens to such things may1 a fortiori1 happen more easily to man4#ia ,the land-testaceans are thrown into the sea by the destruction of the cliffs1 and are then carried to distant shores by means of currents4 ,zoophytes attach themselves to the shells of molluscs or let their tentacles float on the surface of the sea1 and so are driven along by the wind to form distant colonies4 ,the very trees of unknown species1 the very sculptured planks1 the last of a long line1 which were cast up on the ,canaries in the fifteenth century1 and by providing a text for the meditations of ,christopher ,columbus paved the way for the discovery of the ,new ,world--even these probably carried on their surface the eggs of insects2 and these eggs were hatched1 by the heat engendered by new sap1 far from their place of origin and the land where lived the others of their kind4 ,thus there is nothing against the notion that the first human families might soon have been separated1 and lived under very different conditions of climate1 in regions far apart from each other4 ,but it is not necessary1 even under present circumstances1 for the places to be far apart1 in order to ensure a variation in the temperature1 and in the local conditions resulting from it4 ,in mountainous countries like ,switzerland1 the distance of a few miles makes such a difference in the soil and atmosphere1 that we find the flora of ,lapland and ,southern ,italy practically side by side2 similarly in ,isola ,madre1 on ,lago ,maggiore1 oranges1 great cacti1 and dwarf palms grow in the open1 in full view of the ,simplon4 ,we need not confine ourselves to mountains2 the temperature of ,normandy is lower than that of ,jersey1 while in the narrow triangle formed by the ,western coasts of ,france1 the vegetation is of the most varied character4#ib ,the contrasts must have been tremendous1 even over the smallest areas1 in the days that followed the first appearance of our species on the globe4 ,the selfsame place might easily become the theatre of vast atmospheric revolutions1 when the sea retreated or advanced by the inundation or drying up of the neighbouring regions2 when mountains suddenly rose in enormous masses1 or sank to the common level of the earth1 so that the plains covered what once was their crests2 and when tremors1 that shook the axis of the earth1 and by affecting its equilibrium and the inclination of the poles to the ecliptic1 came to disturb the general economy of the planet4 ,we may now consider that we have met all the objections1 that might be urged as to the difficulty of changing one's place and climate in the early ages of the world4 ,there is no reason why some groups of the human family should not have gone far afield1 while others were huddled together in a limited area and yet were exposed to very varied influences4 ,it is thus that the secondary types1 from which are descended the existing races1 could have come into being4 ,as to the type of man first created1 the ,adamite1 we will leave him out of the argument altogether2 for it is impossible to know anything of his specific character1 or how far each of the later families has kept or lost its likeness to him4 ,our investigation will not take us further back than the races of the second stage4 ,i find these races naturally divided into three1 and three only--the white1 the black1 and the yellow4#ic ,if ,i use a basis of division suggested by the colour of the skin1 it is not that ,i consider it either correct or happy1 for the three categories of which ,i speak are not distinguished exactly by colour1 which is a very complex and variable thing2 ,i have already said that certain facts in the conformation of the skeleton are far more important4 ,but in default of inventing new names--which ,i do not consider myself justified in doing--,i must make my choice from the vocabulary already in use4 ,the terms may not be very good1 but they are at any rate less open to objection than any others1 especially if they are carefully defined4 ,i certainly prefer them to all the designations taken from geography or history1 for these have thrown an already confused subject into further confusion4 ,so ,i may say1 once for all1 that ,i understand by white men the members of those races which are also called ,caucasian1 ,semitic1 or ,japhetic4 ,by black men ,i mean the ,hamites2 by yellow the ,altaic1 ,mongol1 ,finnish1 and ,tatar branches4 ,these are the three primitive elements of mankind4 ,there is no more reason to admit ,blumenbach's twenty-eight varieties than ,prichard's seven2 for both these schemes include notorious hybrids4 ,it is probable that none of the three original types was ever found in absolute simplicity4 ,the great cosmic agents had not merely brought into being the three clear-cut varieties2 they had also1 in the course of their action1 caused many sub-species to appear4 ,these were distinguished by some peculiar features1 quite apart from the general character which they had in common with the whole branch4 ,racial crossing was not necessary to create these specific modifications2 they existed before any interbreeding took place at all4 ,it would be fruitless to try to identify them to-day in the hybrid agglomeration that constitutes what we call the 8white race40 ,it would be equally impossible with regard to the yellow race4 ,perhaps the black type has to some extent kept itself pure2 at any rate it has remained nearer its original form1 and thus shows at first sight what1 in the case of the other great human divisions1 is not given by the testimony of our senses1 but may be admitted on the strength of historical proof4 ,the negroes have always perpetuated the original forms of their race1 such as the prognathous type with woolly hair1 the ,hindu type of the ,kamaun and the ,deccan1 and the ,pelagian of ,polynesia4 ,new varieties have certainly been created from their intermixture2 this is the origin of what we may call the 8tertiary types10 which are seen in the white and yellow races1 as well as the black4 ,much has been made of a noteworthy fact1 which is used to-day as a sure criterion for determining the racial purity of a nation4 ,this fact is the resemblance of face1 shape1 and general constitution1 including gesture and carriage4 ,the further these resemblances go1 the less mixture of blood is there supposed to be in the whole people4 ,on the other hand1 the more crossing there has been1 the greater differences we shall find in the features1 stature1 walk1 and general appearance of the individuals4 ,the fact is incontestable1 and valuable conclusions may be drawn from it2 but the conclusions are a little different from those hitherto made4 ,the first series of observations by which the fact was discovered was carried out on the ,polynesians4 ,now1 these are far from being of pure race2 they come from mixtures1 in different proportions1 of yellow and black4 ,hence the complete transmission of the type that we see to-day among the ,polynesians shows1 not the purity of the race1 but simply that the more or less numerous elements of which it is composed have at last been fused in a full and homogeneous unity4 ,each man has the same blood in his veins as his neighbour1 and so there is no reason why he should differ physically from him4 ,just as brothers and sisters are often much alike1 as being produced from like elements1 so1 when two races have been so completely amalgamated that there is no group in the resulting people in which either race predominates1 an artificial type is established1 with a kind of factitious purity2 and every new-born child bears its impress4 ,what ,i have defined as the 8tertiary type0 might in this way easily acquire the quality that is wrongly appropriated to a people of absolutely pure race--namely the likeness of the individual members to each other4 ,this could be attained in a much shorter time at this stage1 as the differences between two varieties of the same type are relatively slight4 ,in a family1 for example1 where the father and mother belong to different nations1 the children will be like one or the other1 but there will be little chance of any real identity of physical characteristics between them4 ,if1 however1 the parents are both from the same national stock1 such an identity will be easily produced4 ,we must mention another law before going further4 ,crossing of blood does not merely imply the fusion of the two varieties1 but also creates new characteristics1 which henceforth furnish the most important standpoint from which to consider any particular sub-species4 ,examples will be given later2 meanwhile ,i need hardly say that these new and original qualities cannot be completely developed unless there has previously been a perfect fusion of the parent-types2 otherwise the tertiary race cannot be considered as really established4 ,the larger the two nations are1 the greater will naturally be the time required for their fusion4 ,but until the process is complete1 and a state of physiological identity brought about1 no new sub-species will be possible1 as there is no question of normal development from an original1 though composite source1 but merely of the confusion and disorder that are always engendered from the imperfect mixture of elements which are naturally foreign to each other4 ,our actual knowledge of the life of these tertiary races is very slight4 ,only in the misty beginnings of human history can we catch a glimpse1 in certain places1 of the white race when it was still in this stage--a stage which seems to have been everywhere short-lived4 ,the civilizing instincts of these chosen peoples were continually forcing them to mix their blood with that of others4 ,as for the black and yellow types1 they are mere savages in the tertiary stage1 and have no history at all4#id ,to the tertiary races succeed others1 which ,i will call 8quaternary40 ,the ,polynesians1 sprung from the mixture of black and yellow1#ie the mulattoes1 a blend of white and black1--these are among the peoples belonging to the quaternary type4 ,i need hardly say1 once more1 that the new type brings the characteristics peculiar to itself more or less into harmony with those which recall its twofold descent4 ,when a quaternary race is again modified by the intervention of a new type1 the resulting mixture has great difficulty in becoming stable2 its elements are brought very slowly into harmony1 and are combined in very irregular proportions4 ,the original qualities of which it is composed are already weakened to a considerable extent1 and become more and more neutralized4 ,they tend to disappear in the confusion that has grown to be the main feature of the new product4 ,the more this product reproduces itself and crosses its blood1 the more the confusion increases4 ,it reaches infinity1 when the people is too numerous for any equilibrium to have a chance of being established--at any rate1 not before long ages have passed4 ,such a people is merely an awful example of racial anarchy4 ,in the individuals we find1 here and there1 a dominant feature reminding us in no uncertain way that blood from every source runs in their veins4 ,one man will have the negro's hair1 another the eyes of a ,teuton1 a third will have a ,mongolian face1 a fourth a ,semitic figure2 and yet all these will be akin6 ,this is the state in which the great civilized nations are to-day2 we may especially see proofs of it in their sea-ports1 capitals1 and colonies1 where a fusion of blood is more easily brought about4 ,in ,paris1 ,london1 ,cadiz1 and ,constantinople1 we find traits recalling every branch of mankind1 and that without going outside the circle of the walls1 or considering any but the so-called 8native population40 ,the lower classes will give us examples of all kinds1 from the prognathous head of the negro to the triangular face and slanting eyes of the ,chinaman2 for1 especially since the ,roman ,empire1 the most remote and divergent races have contributed to the blood of the inhabitants of our great cities4 ,commerce1 peace1 and war1 the founding of colonies1 the succession of invasions1 have all helped in their turn to increase the disorder2 and if one could trace1 some way back1 the genealogical tree of the first man he met1 he would probably be surprised at the strange company of ancestors among whom he would find himself4#if ,we have shown that races differ physically from each other2 we must now ask if they are also unequal in beauty and muscular strength4 ,the answer cannot be long doubtful4 ,i have already observed that the human groups to which the ,european nations and their descendants belong are the most beautiful4 ,one has only to compare the various types of men scattered over the earth's surface to be convinced of this4 ,from the almost rudimentary face and structure of the ,pelagian and the ,pecheray to the tall and nobly proportioned figure of ,charlemagne1 the intelligent regularity of the features of ,napoleon1 and the imposing majesty that exhales from the royal countenance of ,louis ,,xiv1 there is a series of gradations2 the peoples who are not of white blood approach beauty1 but do not attain it4 ,those who are most akin to us come nearest to beauty2 such are the degenerate ,aryan stocks of ,india and ,persia1 and the ,semitic peoples who are least infected by contact with the black race4#ig ,as these races recede from the white type1 their features and limbs become incorrect in form2 they acquire defects of proportion which1 in the races that are completely foreign to us1 end by producing an extreme ugliness4 ,this is the ancient heritage and indelible mark of the greater number of human groups4 ,we can no longer subscribe to the doctrine 7reproduced by ,helvetius in his book on the 8,human ,intellect07 which regards the idea of the beautiful as purely artificial and variable4 ,all who still have scruples on that point should consult the admirable 8,essay on the ,beautiful0 of the ,piedmontese philosopher1 ,gioberti2 and their doubts will be laid to rest4 ,nowhere is it better brought out that beauty is an absolute and necessary idea1 admitting of no arbitrary application4 ,i take my stand on the solid principles established by ,gioberti1 and have no hesitation in regarding the white race as superior to all others in beauty2 these1 again1 differ among themselves in the degree in which they approach or recede from their model4 ,thus the human groups are unequal in beauty2 and this inequality is rational1 logical1 permanent1 and indestructible4 ,is there also an inequality in physical strength8 ,the ,american savages1 like the ,hindus1 are certainly our inferiors in this respect1 as are also the ,australians4 ,the negroes1 too1 have less muscular power2#ih and all these peoples are infinitely less able to bear fatigue4 ,we must distinguish1 however1 between purely muscular strength1 which merely needs to spend itself for a single instant of victory1 and the power of keeping up a prolonged resistance4 ,the latter is far more typical than the former1 of which we may find examples even in notoriously feeble races4 ,if we take the blow of the fist as the sole criterion of strength1 we shall find1 among very backward negro races1 among the ,new ,zealanders 7who are usually of weak constitution71 among ,lascars and ,malays1 certain individuals who can deliver such a blow as well as any ,englishman4 ,but if we take the peoples as a whole1 and judge them by the amount of labour that they can go through without flinching1 we shall give the palm to those belonging to the white race4 ,the different groups within the white race itself are as unequal in strength as they are in beauty1 though the difference is less marked4 ,the ,italians are more beautiful than the ,germans or the ,swiss1 the ,french or the ,spanish4 ,similarly1 the ,english show a higher type of physical beauty than the ,slav nations4 ,in strength of fist1 the ,english are superior to all the other ,european races2 while the ,french and ,spanish have a greater power of resisting fatigue and privation1 as well as the inclemency of extreme climates4 ,the question is settled1 so far as the ,french are concerned1 by the terrible campaign in ,russia4 ,nearly all the ,germans and the northern troops1 accustomed though they were to very low temperatures1 sank down in the snow2 while the ,french regiments1 though they paid their awful tribute to the rigours of the retreat1 were yet able to save most of their number4 ,this superiority has been attributed to their better moral education and military spirit4 ,but such an explanation is insufficient4 ,the ,german officers1 who perished by hundreds1 had just as high a sense of honour and duty as our soldiers had2 but this did not prevent them from going under4 ,we may conclude that the ,french have certain physical qualities that are superior to those of the ,germans1 which allow them to brave with impunity the snows of ,russia as well as the burning sands of ,egypt4 ,,chapter ,,xiii ,,the ,,human ,,races ,,are ,,intellectually ,,unequal2 ,,mankind ,,is ,,not ,,capable ,,of ,,infinite ,,progress ,in order to appreciate the intellectual differences between races1 we ought first to ascertain the degree of stupidity to which mankind can descend4 ,we know already the highest point that it can reach1 namely civilization4 ,most scientific observers up to now have been very prone to make out the lowest types as worse than they really are4 ,nearly all the early accounts of a savage tribe paint it in hideous colours1 far more hideous than the reality4 ,they give it so little power of reason and understanding1 that it seems to be on a level with the monkey and below the elephant4 ,it is true that we find the contrary opinion4 ,if a captain is well received in an island1 if he meets1 as he believes1 with a kind and hospitable welcome1 and succeeds in making a few natives do a small amount of work with his sailors1 then praises are showered on the happy people4 ,they are declared to be fit for anything and capable of everything2 and sometimes the enthusiasm bursts all bounds1 and swears it has found among them some higher intelligences4 ,we must appeal from both judgments--harsh and favourable alike4 ,the fact that certain ,tahitians have helped to repair a whaler does not make their nation capable of civilization4 ,because a man of ,tonga-,tabu shows goodwill to strangers1 he is not necessarily open to ideas of progress4 ,similarly1 we are not entitled to degrade a native of a hitherto unknown coast to the level of the brute1 just because he receives his first visitors with a flight of arrows1 or because he is found eating raw lizards and mud pies4 ,such a banquet does not certainly connote a very high intelligence or very cultivated manners4 ,but even in the most hideous cannibal there is a spark of the divine fire1 and to some extent the flame of understanding can always be kindled in him4 ,there are no tribes so low that they do not pass some judgments1 true or false1 just or unjust1 on the things around them2 the mere existence of such judgments is enough to show that in every branch of mankind some ray of intelligence is kept alive4 ,it is this that makes the most degraded savages accessible to the teachings of religion and distinguishes them in a special manner1 of which they are themselves conscious1 from even the most intelligent beasts4 ,are however these moral possibilities1 which lie at the back of every man's consciousness1 capable of infinite extension8 ,do all men possess in an equal degree an unlimited power of intellectual development8 ,in other words1 has every human race the capacity for becoming equal to every other8 ,the question is ultimately concerned with the infinite capacity for improvement possessed by the species as a whole1 and with the equality of races4 ,i deny both points4 ,the idea of an infinite progress is very seductive to many modern philosophers1 and they support it by declaring that our civilization has many merits and advantages which our differently trained ancestors did not possess4 ,they bring forward all the phenomena that distinguished our modern societies4 ,i have spoken of these already2 but ,i am glad to be able to go through them again4 ,we are told that our scientific opinions are truer than they were2 that our manners are1 as a rule1 kindly1 and our morals better than those of the ,greeks and ,romans4 ,especially with regard to political liberty1 they say1 have we ideas and feelings1 beliefs and tolerances1 that prove our superiority4 ,there are even some hopeful theorists who maintain that our institutions should lead us straight to that garden of the ,hesperides which was sought so long1 and with such ill-success1 since the time when the ancient navigators reported that it was not in the ,canaries4444 ,a little more serious consideration of history will show what truth there is in these high claims4 ,we are certainly more learned than the ancients4 ,this is because we have profited by their discoveries4 ,if we have amassed more knowledge than they1 it is merely because we are their heirs and pupils1 and have continued their work4 ,does it follow that the discovery of steam-power and the solution of a few mechanical problems have brought us on the way to omniscience8 ,at most1 our success may lead us to explore all the secrets of the material world4 ,before we achieve this conquest1 there are many things to do which have not even been begun1 nay of which the very existence is not yet suspected2 but even when the victory is ours1 shall we have advanced a single step beyond the bare affirmation of physical laws8 ,we shall1 ,i agree1 have greatly increased our power of influencing nature and harnessing her to our service4 ,we shall have found different ways of going round the world1 or recognized definitely that certain routes are impossible4 ,we shall have learnt how to move freely about in the air1 and1 by mounting a few miles nearer the limits of the earth's atmosphere1 discovered or cleared up certain astronomical or other problems2 but nothing more4 ,all this does not lead us to infinity4 ,even if we had counted all the planetary systems that move through space1 should we be any nearer8 ,have we learnt a single thing about the great mysteries that was unknown to the ancients8 ,we have1 merely1 so far as ,i can see1 changed the previous methods of circling the cave where the secret lies4 ,we have not pierced its darkness one inch further4 ,again1 admitting that we are in certain directions more enlightened1 yet we must have lost all trace of many things that were familiar to our remote ancestors4 ,can we doubt that at the time of ,abraham far more was known about primeval history than we know to-day8 ,how many of our discoveries1 made by chance or with great labour1 are merely re-discoveries of forgotten knowledge6 ,further1 how inferior we are in many respects to those who have lived before us6 ,as ,i said above1 in a different connexion1 can one compare even our most splendid works to the marvels still to be seen in ,egypt1 ,india1 ,greece1 and ,america8 ,and these bear witness to the vanished magnificence of many other buildings1 which have been destroyed far less by the heavy hand of time than by the senseless ravages of man4 ,what are our arts1 compared with those of ,athens8 ,what are our thinkers1 compared with those of ,alexandria and ,india8 ,what are our poets1 by the side of ,valmiki1 ,kalidasa1 ,homer1 and ,pindar8 ,our work is1 in fact1 different from theirs4 ,we have turned our minds to other inquiries and other ends than those pursued by the earlier civilized groups of mankind4 ,but while tilling our new field1 we have not been able to keep fertile the lands already cultivated4 ,we have advanced on one flank1 but have given ground on the other4 ,it is a poor compensation2 and far from proving our progress1 it merely means that we have changed our position4 ,for a real advance to have been made1 we should at least have preserved in their integrity the chief intellectual treasures of the earlier societies1 and set up1 in addition1 certain great and firmly based conclusions at which the ancients had aimed as well as ourselves4 ,our arts and sciences1 using theirs as the starting-point1 should have discovered some new and profound truths about life and death1 the genesis of living creatures1 and the basic principles of the universe4 ,on all these questions1 modern science1 as we imagine1 has lost the visionary gleam that played round the dawn of antiquity1 and its own efforts have merely brought it to the humiliating confession1 8,i seek and do not find40 ,there has been no real progress in the intellectual conquests of man4 ,our power of criticism is certainly better than that of our forefathers4 ,this is a considerable gain1 but it stands alone2 and1 after all1 criticism merely means classification1 not discovery4 ,as for our so-called new ideas on politics1 we may allow ourselves to be more disrespectful to them than to our sciences4 ,the same fertility in theorizing1 on which we so pride ourselves1 was to be found at ,athens after the death of ,pericles4 ,anyone may be convinced of this by reading again the comedies of ,aristophanes1 and allowing for satirical exaggeration2 they were recommended by ,plato himself as a guide to the public life of the city of ,athene4 ,we have always despised such comparisons1 since we persuaded ourselves that a fundamental difference between our present social order and the ancient ,greek ,state was created by slavery4 ,it made for a more far-reaching demagogy1 ,i admit2 but that is all4 ,people spoke of slaves in the same way as one speaks to-day of workmen and the lower classes2 and1 further1 how very advanced the ,athenians must have been1 when they tried to please their servile population after the battle of ,arginus6 ,let us now turn to ,rome4 ,if you open the letters of ,cicero1 you will find the ,roman orator a moderate ,tory of to-day4 ,his republic is exactly like our constitutional societies1 in all that relates to the language of parties and ,parliamentary squabbles4 ,there too1 in the lower depths1 seethed a population of degraded slaves1 with revolt ever in their hearts1 and sometimes in their fists also4 ,we will leave this mob on one side2 and we can do it the more readily as the law did not recognize their civil existence4 ,they did not count in politics1 and their influence was limited to times of uproar4 ,even then1 they merely carried out the commands of the revolutionaries of free birth4 ,regarding1 then1 the slaves as of no account1 does not the ,forum offer us all the constituents of a modern social ,state8 ,the populace1 demanding bread and games1 free doles and the right to enjoy them2 the middle class1 which succeeded in its aim of monopolizing the public services2 the patriciate1 always being transformed and giving ground1 always losing its rights1 until even its defenders agreed1 as their one means of defence1 to refuse all privileges and merely claim liberty for all2--have we not here an exact correspondence with our own time8 ,does anyone believe that of the opinions we hear expressed to-day1 however various they may be1 there is a single one1 or any shade of one1 that was not known at ,rome8 ,i spoke above of the letters written from the ,tusculan ,villa3 they contain the thoughts of a ,conservative with progressive leanings4 ,as against ,sulla1 ,pompeius and ,cicero were ,liberals4 ,they were not liberal enough for ,csar1 and were too much so for ,cato4 ,later1 under the ,principate1 we find a moderate ,royalist in ,pliny the ,younger1 though one who loved tranquillity4 ,he was against excessive liberty for the people1 and excessive power for the ,emperor4 ,his views were positivist2 he thought little of the vanished splendours of the age of the ,fabii1 and preferred the prosaic administration of a ,trajan4 ,not everyone agreed with him4 ,many feared another insurrection like that of ,spartacus1 and thought that the ,emperor could not make too despotic a use of his power4 ,on the other hand1 some of the provincials asked for1 and obtained1 what we should call constitutional guarantees2 while ,socialist opinions found so highly placed a representative as the ,gallic ,emperor ,gaius ,junius ,postumus1 who set down1 among his subjects for declamation1 ,dives et pauper inimici1 8,the rich and the poor are natural enemies40 ,in fact1 every man who had any claim to share in the enlightenment of the time strongly asserted the equality of the human race1 the right of all men to have their part in the good things of this world1 the obvious necessity of the ,grco-,roman civilization1 its perfection and refinement1 its certainty of a future progress even beyond its present state1 and1 to crown all1 its existence for ever4 ,these ideas were not merely the pride and consolation of the pagans2 they inspired also the firm hopes of the first and most illustrious ,fathers of the ,church1 of whose views ,tertullian was the self-constituted interpreter4#ii ,finally--to complete the picture with a last striking trait--the most numerous party of all was formed by the indifferent1 the people who were too weak or timid1 too sceptical or contemptuous1 to find truth in the midst of all the divergent theories that passed kaleidoscopically before their eyes2 who loved order when it existed1 and 7so far as they could7 endured disorder when it came2 who were always wondering at the progress of material comforts unknown to their fathers1 and who1 without wishing to think too much of the other side1 consoled themselves by repeating over and over again1 8,wonderful are the works of to-day60 ,there would be more reason to believe that we have made improvements in political science1 if we had invented some machinery that was unknown1 in its essentials1 before our time4 ,such a glory is not ours4 ,limited monarchies1 for example1 have been familiar to every age1 and curious instances can be seen among certain ,american tribes1 which in other respects have remained savage4 ,democratic and aristocratic republics of all kinds1 balanced in the most various ways1 have existed in the ,new as well as the ,old ,world4 ,tlaxcala is just as good an example as ,athens1 ,sparta1 and ,mecca before ,mohammed's time4 ,even if it were shown that we had ourselves made some secondary improvements in the art of government1 would this be enough to justify such a sweeping assertion as that the human race is capable of unlimited progress8 ,let us be as modest as that wisest of kings1 when he said1 8,there is nothing new under the sun40#ajj ,we come now to the question of manners4 ,ours are said to be gentler than those of the other great human societies2 but this is very doubtful4 ,there are some rhetoricians to-day who would like to abolish war between nations4 ,they have taken this theory from ,seneca4 ,certain wise men of the ,east had also1 on this subject1 views that are precisely similar to those of the ,moravian brotherhood4 ,but even if the friends of universal peace succeeded in making ,europe disgusted with the idea of war1 they would still have to bring about a permanent change in the passions of mankind4 ,neither ,seneca nor the ,brahmans obtained such a victory4 ,it is doubtful whether we are to succeed where they failed2 especially as we may still see in our fields and our streets the bloody traces left by our so-called 8humanity40 ,i agree that our principles are pure and elevated4 ,does our practice correspond to them8 ,before we congratulate ourselves on our achievements1 let us wait till our modern countries can boast of two centuries of peace1 as could ,roman ,italy1#aja the example of which has unfortunately not been followed by later ages2 for since the beginning of modern civilization fifty years have never passed without massacres4 ,the capacity for infinite progress is1 thus1 not shown by the present state of our civilization4 ,man has been able to learn some things1 but has forgotten many others4 ,he has not added one sense to his senses1 one limb to his limbs1 one faculty to his soul4 ,he has merely explored another region of the circle in which he is confined1 and even the comparison of his destiny with that of many kinds of birds and insects does not always inspire very consoling thoughts as to his happiness in this life4 ,the bees1 the ants1 and the termites have found for themselves1 from the day of their creation1 the kind of life that suited them4 ,the last two1 in their communities1 have invented a way of building their houses1 laying in their provisions1 and looking after their eggs1 which in the opinion of naturalists could be neither altered nor improved4#ajb ,such as it is1 it has always been sufficient for the small wants of the creatures who use it4 ,similarly the bees--with their monarchical government1 which admits of the deposition of the sovereign but not of a social revolution--have never for a single day turned aside from the manner of life that is most suitable to their needs4 ,metaphysicians were allowed for a long time to call animals machines1 and to assign the cause of their movements to ,god1 who was the 8soul of the brutes10 anima brutorum4 ,now that the habits of these so-called automata are studied in a more careful way1 we have not merely given up this contemptuous theory2 we have even recognized that instinct has a capacity that raises it almost to the dignity of reason4 ,in the bee-kingdom1 we see the queens a prey to the anger of their subjects2 this implies either a spirit of mutiny in the latter1 or the inability of the former to fulfil their lawful obligations4 ,we see too the termites sparing their conquered enemies1 and then making them prisoners1 and employing them in the public service by giving them the care of the young4 ,what are we to conclude from such facts as these8 ,our modern ,states are certainly more complicated1 and satisfy our needs in larger measure3 but when ,i see the savage wandering on his way1 fierce1 sullen1 idle1 and dirty1 lazily dragging his feet along his uncultivated ground1 carrying the pointed stick that is his only weapon1 and followed by the wife whom he has bound to him by a marriage-ceremony consisting solely in an empty and ferocious violence2#ajc when ,i see the wife carrying her child1 whom she will kill with her own hands if he falls ill1 or even if he worries her2#ajd when ,i see this miserable group under the pressure of hunger1 suddenly stop1 in its search for food1 before a hill peopled by intelligent ants1 gape at it in wonder1 put their feet through it1 seize the eggs and devour them1 and then withdraw sadly into the hollow of a rock1--when ,i see all this1 ,i ask myself whether the insects that have just perished are not more highly gifted than the stupid family of the destroyer1 and whether the instinct of the animals1 restricted as it is to a small circle of wants1 does not really make them happier than the faculty of reason which has left our poor humanity naked on the earth1 and a thousand times more exposed than any other species to the sufferings caused by the united agency of air1 sun1 rain1 and snow4 ,man1 in his wretchedness1 has never succeeded in inventing a way of providing the whole race with clothes or in putting them beyond the reach of hunger and thirst4 ,it is true that the knowledge possessed by the lowest savage is more extensive than that of any animal2 but the animals know what is useful to them1 and we do not4 ,they hold fast to what knowledge they have1 but we often cannot keep what we have ourselves discovered4 ,they are always1 in normal seasons1 sure of satisfying their needs by their instincts4 ,but there are numerous tribes of men that from the beginning of their history have never been able to rise above a stinted and precarious existence4 ,so far as material well-being goes1 we are no better than the animals2 our horizon is wider than theirs1 but1 like theirs1 it is still cramped and bounded4 ,i have hardly insisted enough on this unfortunate tendency of mankind to lose on one side what it gains on the other4 ,yet this is the great fact that condemns us to wander through our intellectual domains without ever succeeding1 in spite of their narrow limits1 in holding them all at the same time4 ,if this fatal law did not exist1 it might well happen that at some date in the dim future1 when man had gathered together all the wisdom of all the ages1 knowing what he had power to know and possessing all that was within his reach1 he might at last have learnt how to apply his wealth1 and live in the midst of nature1 at peace with his kind and no longer at grips with misery2 and having gained tranquillity after all his struggles1 he might find his ultimate rest1 if not in a state of absolute perfection1 at any rate in the midst of joy and abundance4 ,such happiness1 with all its limitations1 is not even possible for us1 since man unlearns as fast as he learns2 he cannot gain intellectually and morally without losing physically1 and he does not hold any of his conquests strongly enough to be certain of keeping them always4 ,we moderns believe that our civilization will never perish1 because we have discovered printing1 steam1 and gunpowder4 ,has printing1 which is no less known to the inhabitants of ,tonkin and ,annam#aje than in ,europe1 managed to give them even a tolerable civilization8 ,they have books1 and many of them--books which are sold far cheaper than ours4 ,how is it that these peoples are so weak and degraded1 so near the point where civilized man1 strengthless1 cowardly1 and corrupted1 is inferior in intellectual power to any barbarian who may seize the opportunity to crush him8#ajf ,the reason is1 that printing is merely a means and not an end4 ,if you use it to disseminate healthy and vigorous ideas1 it will serve a most fruitful purpose and help to maintain civilization4 ,if1 on the other hand1 the intellectual life of a people is so debased that no one any longer prints such works of philosophy1 history1 and literature1 as can give strong nourishment to a nation's genius2 if the degraded press merely serves to multiply the unhealthy and poisonous compilations of enervated minds1 if its theology is the work of sectaries1 its politics of libellers1 its poetry of libertines1--then how and why should the printing-press be the saviour of civilization8 ,because copies of the great masterpieces can be easily multiplied1 it is supposed that printing helps to preserve them2 and that in times of intellectual barrenness1 when they have no other competitors1 printing can at least make them accessible to the nobler minds of the age4 ,this is of course true4 ,yet if a man is to trouble himself about an ancient book at all1 or gain any improvement from it1 he must already have the precious gift of an enlightened mind4 ,in evil times1 when public virtue has left the earth1 ancient writings are of little account1 and no one cares to disturb the silence of the libraries4 ,a man must be already worth something before he thinks of entering these august portals2 but in such times no one is worth anything4444 ,further1 the length of life assured by ,gutenberg's discovery to the achievements of the human mind is greatly exaggerated4 ,with the exception of a few works which are from time to time reprinted1 all books are dying to-day1 as manuscripts died in the old days4 ,scientific works especially1 which are published in editions of a few hundred copies1 soon disappear from the common stock4 ,they can still be found1 though with difficulty1 in large collections4 ,the intellectual treasures of antiquity were in exactly the same case2 and1 ,i repeat1 learning will not save a people which has fallen into its dotage4 ,what have become of the thousands of admirable books published since the first printing-press was set up8 ,most of them have been forgotten4 ,many of those that are still spoken of have no longer any readers1 while the very names of the authors who were in demand fifty years ago are gradually fading from memory4 ,in the attempt to heighten the influence of printing1 too little stress has been laid on the great diffusion of manuscripts that preceded it4 ,at the time of the ,roman ,empire1 opportunities for education were very general1 and books must have been very common indeed1 if we look at the extraordinary number of out-at-elbows grammarians1 whose poverty1 licentiousness1 and passionate search for enjoyment live for us in the ,satyricon of ,petronius4 ,they swarmed even in the smallest towns1 and may be compared to the novelists1 lawyers1 and journalists of our own age4 ,even when the decadence was complete1 anyone who wanted books could get them4 ,virgil was read everywhere4 ,the peasants who heard his praises took him for a dangerous enchanter4 ,the monks copied him4 ,they copied also ,pliny1 ,dioscorides1 ,plato1 ,aristotle1 even ,catullus and ,martial4 ,from the great number of medival manuscripts that remain after so much war and pillage1 after the burning of so many castles and abbeys1 we may guess that far more copies than one thinks were made of contemporary works1 literary1 scientific1 and philosophical4 ,we exaggerate the real services done by printing to science1 poetry1 morality1 and civilization2 it would be better if we merely touched lightly on these merits and spoke more of the way in which the invention of printing is continually helping all kinds of religious and political interests4 ,printing1 ,i say again1 is a marvellous tool2 but when head and hand fail1 a tool cannot work by itself4 ,gunpowder has no more power than printing to save a society that is in danger of death4 ,the knowledge of how to make it will certainly never be forgotten4 ,i doubt1 however1 whether the half-civilized peoples who use it to-day as much as we do ourselves1 ever look upon it from any other point of view than that of destruction4 ,as for steam-power and the various industrial discoveries1 they too1 like printing1 are most excellent means1 but not ends in themselves4 ,i may add that some processes which began as scientific discoveries ended as matters of routine1 when the intellectual movement that gave them birth had stopped for ever1 and the theoretical secrets at the back of the processes had been lost4 ,finally1 material well-being has never been anything but an excrescence on civilization2 no one has ever heard of a society that persisted solely through its knowledge of how to travel quickly and make fine clothes4 ,all the civilizations before our own have thought1 as we do1 that they were set firmly on the rock of time by their unforgettable discoveries4 ,they all believed in their immortality4 ,the ,incas and their families1 who travelled swiftly in their palanquins on the excellent roads1 fifteen hundred miles long1 that still link ,cuzco to ,quito1 were certainly convinced that their conquests would last for ever4 ,time1 with one blow of his wing1 has hurled their empire1 like so many others1 into the uttermost abyss4 ,these kings of ,peru also had their sciences1 their machinery1 their powerful engines1 at the work of which we still stand amazed without being able to guess their construction4 ,they too knew the secret of carrying enormous masses from place to place4 ,they built fortresses by piling1 one upon the other1 blocks of stone thirty-eight feet long and eighteen wide1 such as may be seen in the ruins of ,tihuanaco1 to which these gigantic building-materials must have been brought from a distance of many miles4 ,do we know the means used by the engineers of this vanished people to solve such a problem8 ,no more than we know how the vast ,cyclopean walls were constructed1 the ruins of which1 in many parts of ,southern ,europe1 still defy the ravages of time4 ,we must not confuse the causes of a civilization with its results4 ,the causes disappear1 and the results are forgotten1 when the spirit that gave them birth has departed4 ,if they persist1 it is because of a new spirit that takes hold of them1 and often succeeds in giving quite a new direction to their activities4 ,the human mind is always in motion4 ,it runs from one point to another1 but cannot be in all places at once4 ,it exalts what it embraces1 and forgets what it has abandoned4 ,held prisoner for ever within a circle whose bounds it may not overstep1 it never manages to cultivate one part of its domain without leaving the others fallow4 ,it is always at the same time superior and inferior to its forbears4 ,mankind never goes beyond itself1 and so is not capable of infinite progress4 ,,chapter ,,xiv ,,proof ,,of ,,the ,,intellectual ,,inequality ,,of ,,races 7continued74 ,,different ,,civilizations ,,are ,,mutually ,,repulsive4 ,,hybrid ,,races ,,have ,,equally ,,hybrid ,,civilizations ,if the human races were equal1 the course of history would form an affecting1 glorious1 and magnificent picture4 ,the races would all have been equally intelligent1 with a keen eye for their true interests and the same aptitude for conquest and domination4 ,early in the world's history1 they would have gladdened the face of the earth with a crowd of civilizations1 all flourishing at the same time1 and all exactly alike4 ,at the moment when the most ancient ,sanscrit peoples were founding their empire1 and1 by means of religion and the sword1 were covering ,northern ,india with harvests1 towns1 palaces1 and temples2 at the moment when the first ,assyrian ,empire was crowning the plains of the ,tigris and ,euphrates with its splendid buildings1 and the chariots and horsemen of ,nimroud were defying the four winds1 we should have seen1 on the ,african coast1 among the tribes of the prognathous negroes1 the rise of an enlightened and cultured social state1 skilful in adapting means to ends1 and in possession of great wealth and power4 ,the ,celts1 in the course of their migrations1 would have carried with them to the extreme west of ,europe the necessary elements of a great society1 as well as some tincture of the ancient wisdom of the ,east2 they would certainly have found1 among the ,iberian peoples spread over the face of ,italy1 in ,gaul and ,spain and the islands of the ,mediterranean1 rivals as well schooled as themselves in the early traditions1 as expert as they in the arts and inventions required for civilization4 ,mankind1 at one with itself1 would have nobly walked the earth1 rich in understanding1 and founding everywhere societies resembling each other4 ,all nations would have judged their needs in the same way1 asked nature for the same things1 and viewed her from the same angle4 ,a short time would have been sufficient for them to get into close contact with each other and to form the complex network of relations that is everywhere so necessary and profitable for progress4 ,the tribes that were unlucky enough to live on a barren soil1 at the bottom of rocky gorges1 on the shores of ice-bound seas1 or on steppes for ever swept by the north winds--these might have had to battle against the unkindness of nature for a longer time than the more favoured peoples4 ,but in the end1 having no less wisdom and understanding than the others1 they would not have been backward in discovering that the rigours of a climate has its remedies4 ,they would have shown the intelligent activity we see to-day among the ,danes1 the ,norwegians1 and the ,icelanders4 ,they would have tamed the rebellious soil1 and forced it1 in spite of itself1 to be productive4 ,in mountainous regions1 we should have found them leading a pastoral life1 like the ,swiss1 or developing industries like those of ,cashmere4 ,if their climate had been so bad1 and its situation so unfavourable1 that there was obviously nothing to be done with it1 then the thought would have struck them that the world was large1 and contained many valleys and kindly plains2 they would have left their ungrateful country1 and soon have found a land where they could turn their energy and intelligence to good account4 ,then the nations of the earth1 equally enlightened and equally rich1 some by the commerce of their seething maritime cities1 some by the agriculture of their vast and flourishing prairies1 others by the industries of a mountainous district1 others again by the facilities for transport afforded them by their central position--all these1 in spite of the temporary quarrels1 civil wars1 and seditions inseparable from our condition as men1 might soon have devised some system of balancing their conflicting interests4 ,civilizations identical in origin would1 by a long process of give and take1 have ended by being almost exactly alike2 one might then have seen established that federation of the world which has been the dream of so many centuries1 and which would inevitably be realized if all races were actually gifted1 in the same degree1 with the same powers4 ,but we know that such a picture is purely fantastic4 ,the first peoples worthy of the name came together under the inspiration of an idea of union which the barbarians who lived more or less near them not only failed to conceive so quickly1 but never conceived at all4 ,the early peoples emigrated from their first home and came across other peoples1 which they conquered2 but these again neither understood nor ever adopted with any intelligence the main ideas in the civilization which had been imposed on them4 ,far from showing that all the tribes of mankind are intellectually alike1 the nations capable of civilization have always proved the contrary1 first by the absolutely different foundations on which they based their states1 and secondly by the marked antipathy which they showed to each other4 ,the force of example has never awakened any instinct1 in any people1 which did not spring from their own nature4 ,spain and the ,gauls saw the ,phnicians1 the ,greeks1 and the ,carthaginians1 set up flourishing towns1 one after the other1 on their coasts4 ,but both ,spain and the ,gauls refused to copy the manners and the government of these great trading powers4 ,when the ,romans came as conquerors1 they only succeeded in introducing a different spirit by filling their new dominions with ,roman colonies4 ,thus the case of the ,celts and the ,iberians shows that civilization cannot be acquired without the crossing of blood4 ,consider the position of the ,american ,indians at the present day4 ,they live side by side with a people which always wishes to increase in numbers1 to strengthen its power4 ,they see thousands of ships passing up and down their waterways4 ,they know that the strength of their masters is irresistible4 ,they have no hope whatever of seeing their native land one day delivered from the conqueror2 their whole continent is henceforth1 as they all know1 the inheritance of the ,european4 ,a glance is enough to convince them of the tenacity of those foreign institutions under which human life ceases to depend1 for its continuance1 on the abundance of game or fish4 ,from their purchases of brandy1 guns1 and blankets1 they know that even their own coarse tastes would be more easily satisfied in the midst of such a society1 which is always inviting them to come in1 and which seeks1 by bribes and flattery1 to obtain their consent4 ,it is always refused4 ,they prefer to flee from one lonely spot to another2 they bury themselves more and more in the heart of the country1 abandoning all1 even the bones of their fathers4 ,they will die out1 as they know well2 but they are kept1 by a mysterious feeling of horror1 under the yoke of their unconquerable repulsion from the white race1 and although they admire its strength and general superiority1 their conscience and their whole nature1 in a word1 their blood1 revolts from the mere thought of having anything in common with it4 ,in ,spanish ,america less aversion is felt by the natives towards their masters4 ,the reason is that they were formerly left by the central ,government under the rule of their ,caciques4 ,the ,government did not try to civilize them2 it allowed them to keep their own laws and customs1 and1 provided they became ,christians1 merely required them to pay tribute4 ,there was no question of colonization4 ,once the conquest was made1 the ,spaniards showed a lazy tolerance to the conquered1 and only oppressed them spasmodically4 ,this is why the ,indians of ,south ,america are less unhappy than those of the north1 and continue to live on1 whereas the neighbours of the ,anglo-,saxons will be pitilessly driven down into the abyss4 ,civilization is incommunicable1 not only to savages1 but also to more enlightened nations4 ,this is shown by the efforts of ,french goodwill and conciliation in the ancient kingdom of ,algiers at the present day1 as well as by the experience of the ,english in ,india1 and the ,dutch in ,java4 ,there are no more striking and conclusive proofs of the unlikeness and inequality of races4 ,we should be wrong to conclude that the barbarism of certain tribes is so innate that no kind of culture is possible for them4 ,traces may be seen1 among many savage peoples1 of a state of things better than that obtaining now4 ,some tribes1 otherwise sunk in brutishness1 hold to traditional rules1 of a curious complexity1 in the matter of marriage1 inheritance1 and government4 ,their rites are unmeaning to-day1 but they evidently go back to a higher order of ideas4 ,the ,red ,indians are brought forward as an example2 the vast deserts over which they roam are supposed to have been once the settlements of the ,alleghanians4#ajg ,others1 such as the natives of the ,marianne ,islands1 have methods of manufacture which they cannot have invented themselves4 ,they hand them down1 without thought1 from father to son1 and employ them quite mechanically4 ,when we see a people in a state of barbarism1 we must look more closely before concluding that this has always been their condition4 ,we must take many other facts into account1 if we would avoid error4 ,some peoples are caught in the sweep of a kindred race2 they submit to it more or less1 taking over certain customs1 and following them out as far as possible4 ,on the disappearance of the dominant race1 either by expulsion1 or by a complete absorption in the conquered people1 the latter allows the culture1 especially its root principles1 to die out almost entirely1 and retains only the small part it has been able to understand4 ,even this cannot happen except among nations related by blood4 ,this was the attitude of the ,assyrians towards the ,chaldean culture1 of the ,syrian and ,egyptian ,greeks towards the ,greeks of ,europe1 of the ,iberians1 ,celts1 and ,illyrians in face of the ,roman ideas4 ,if the ,cherokees1 the ,catawhas1 the ,muskhogees1 the ,seminoles1 the ,natchez1 and the like1 still show some traces of the ,alleghanian intelligence1 ,i cannot indeed infer that they are of pure blood1 and directly descended from the originating stock--this would mean that a race that was once civilized can lose its civilization2--,i merely say that if any of them derives from the ancient conquering type as its source1 the stream is a muddy one1 and has been mingled with many tributaries on the way4 ,if it were otherwise1 the ,cherokees would never have fallen into barbarism4 ,as for the other and less gifted tribes1 they seem to represent merely the dregs of the indigenous population1 which was forced by the foreign conquerors to combine together to form the basic elements of a new social state4 ,it is not surprising that these remnants of civilization should have preserved1 without understanding them1 laws1 rites1 and customs invented by men cleverer than themselves2 they never knew their meaning or theoretical principles1 or regarded them as anything but objects of superstitious veneration4 ,the same argument applies to the traces of mechanical skill found among them4 ,the methods so admired by travellers may well have been ultimately derived from a finer race that has long disappeared4 ,sometimes we must look even further for their origin4 ,thus1 the working of mines was known to the ,iberians1 ,aquitanians1 and the ,bretons of the ,scilly ,isles2 but the secret was first discovered in ,upper ,asia1 and thence brought long ago by the ancestors of the ,western peoples in the course of their migration4 ,the natives of the ,caroline ,islands are almost the most interesting in ,polynesia4 ,their looms1 their carved canoes1 their taste for trade and navigation put a deep barrier between them and the other negroes4 ,it is not hard to see how they come to have these powers4 ,they owe them to the ,malay blood in their veins2 and as1 at the same time1 their blood is far from being pure1 their racial gifts have survived only in a stunted and degraded form4 ,we must not therefore infer1 from the traces of civilization existing among a barbarous people1 that it has ever been really civilized4 ,it has lived under the dominion of another tribe1 of kindred blood but superior to it2 or perhaps1 by merely living close to the other tribe1 it has1 feebly and humbly1 imitated its customs4 ,the savage races of to-day have always been savage1 and we are right in concluding1 by analogy1 that they will continue to be so1 until the day when they disappear4 ,their disappearance is inevitable as soon as two entirely unconnected races come into active contact2 and the best proof is the fate of the ,polynesians and the ,american ,indians4 ,the preceding argument has established the following facts3 7i7 ,the tribes which are savage at the present day have always been so1 and always will be1 however high the civilizations with which they are brought into contact4 7ii7 ,for a savage people even to go on living in the midst of civilization1 the nation which created the civilization must be a nobler branch of the same race4 7iii7 ,this is also necessary if two distinct civilizations are to affect each other to any extent1 by an exchange of qualities1 and give birth to other civilizations compounded from their elements4 ,that they should ever be fused together is of course out of the question4 7iv7 ,the civilizations that proceed from two completely foreign races can only touch on the surface4 ,they never coalesce1 and the one will always exclude the other4 ,i will say more about this last point1 as it has not been sufficiently illustrated4 ,the fortune of war brought the ,persian civilization face to face with the ,greek1 the ,greek with the ,roman1 the ,egyptian with both ,roman and ,greek2 similarly the modern ,european civilization has confronted all those existing to-day in the world1 especially the ,arabian4 ,the relations of ,greek with ,persian culture were manifold and inevitable4 ,a large part of the ,hellenic population--the richest1 if not the most independent--was concentrated in the towns of the ,syrian littoral1 and in the colonies of ,asia ,minor and the ,euxine4 ,these were1 soon after their foundation1 absorbed in the dominions of the ,great ,king2 the inhabitants lived under the eye of the satrap1 though to a certain extent they retained their democratic institutions4 ,again1 ,greece proper1 the ,greece that was free1 was always in close contact with the cities of the ,asiatic coast4 ,were the civilizations of the two countries ever fused into one8 ,we know they were not4 ,the ,greeks regarded their powerful enemies as barbarians1 and their contempt was probably returned with interest4 ,the two nations were continually coming into contact1 but their political ideas1 their private habits1 the inner meaning of their public rites1 the scope of their art1 and the forms of their government1 remained quite distinct4 ,at ,ecbatana only one authority was recognized2 it was hereditary1 and limited in certain traditional ways1 but was otherwise absolute4 ,in ,hellas the power was subdivided among a crowd of different sovereigns4 ,the government was monarchical at ,sparta1 democratic at ,athens1 aristocratic at ,sicyon1 tyrannic in ,macedonia--a strange medley6 ,among the ,persians1 the ,state religion was far nearer to the primitive idea of emanation2 it showed the same tendency to unity as the government itself did1 and had a moral and metaphysical significance that was not without a certain philosophic depth4 ,the ,greek symbolism1 on the other hand1 was concerned merely with the various outward appearances of nature1 and issued in a glorification of the human form4 ,religion left the business of controlling a man's conscience to the laws of the ,state2 as soon as the due rites were performed1 and his meed of honour paid to the local god or hero1 the office of faith was complete4 ,further1 the rites themselves1 the gods1 and the heroes1 were different in places a few miles apart4 ,if1 in some sanctuaries like ,olympia or ,dodona1 we seem to find the worship1 not of some special force of nature1 but of the cosmic principle itself1 such a unity only makes the diversity of the rest more remarkable2 for this kind of worship was confined to a few isolated places4 ,besides1 the oracle of ,dodona and the cult of the ,olympian ,zeus were foreign importations4 ,as for the private customs of the ,greeks1 it is hardly necessary to show how much they differed from those of the ,persians4 ,for a rich1 pleasure-loving1 and cosmopolitan youth to imitate the habits of rivals far more luxurious and outwardly refined than the ,greeks1 was to bring himself into public contempt4 ,until the time of ,alexander--in other words1 during the great1 fruitful and glorious period of ,hellenism--,persia1 in spite of its continual pressure1 could not convert ,greece to its civilization4 ,with the coming of ,alexander1 this was curiously confirmed4 ,men believed for a moment1 when they saw ,hellas conquering the kingdom of ,darius1 that ,asia was about to become ,greek1 or1 still better1 that the acts of violence wrought in the madness of a single night by the conqueror against the monuments of the country were1 in their very excess1 a proof of contempt as well as hatred4 ,but the burner of ,persepolis soon changed his mind4 ,the change was so complete that his design at last became apparent2 it was to substitute himself purely and simply for the dynasty of the ,achaemenidae1 and to rule like his predecessor or the great ,xerxes1 with ,greece as an appanage of his empire4 ,in this way1 the ,persian social system might have absorbed that of the ,greeks4 ,in spite1 however1 of all ,alexander's authority1 nothing of the kind happened4 ,his generals and soldiers never became used to seeing him in his long clinging robe1 wearing a turban on his head1 surrounded by eunuchs and denying his country4 ,after his death1 his system was continued by some of his successors2 they were1 however1 forced to mitigate it4 ,and why1 as a fact1 were they able to find the middle term which became the normal condition of the ,asiatics of the coast and the ,grco-,egyptians8 ,simply because their subjects consisted of a mixed population of ,greeks1 ,syrians1 and ,arabs1 who had no reason to refuse the compromise4 ,where1 however1 the races remained distinct1 all terms of union were impossible1 and each country held to its national culture4 ,similarly1 right up to the last days of the ,roman ,empire1 the hybrid civilization that was dominant all over the ,east1 including ,greece proper1 had become much more ,asiatic than ,greek1 owing to the great preponderance of ,asiatic blood in the mass of the people4 ,the intellectual life1 it is true1 took pride in being ,hellenic4 ,but it is not hard to find1 in the thought of the time1 an ,oriental strain vitalizing all the products of the ,alexandrian school1 such as the 8centralized state0 idea of the ,grco-,syrian jurists4 ,we see how the different racial elements were balanced1 and to which side the scale inclined4 ,other civilizations may be compared in the same way2 and before ending this chapter1 ,i will say a few words about the relation between ,arab culture and our own4 ,no one can doubt their mutual repulsion4 ,our medival ancestors had opportunities of seeing at close quarters the marvels of the ,mussulman ,state1 when they willingly sent their sons to study in the schools of ,cordova4 ,yet nothing ,arabian remains in ,europe outside the nations that have a tinge of ,ishmaelitish blood4 ,brahmanic ,india showed no more eagerness than ourselves to come to terms with ,islam1 and has1 like us1 resisted all the efforts of its ,mohammedan masters4 ,to-day1 it is our turn to deal with the remains of ,arab civilization4 ,we harry and destroy the ,arabs1 but we do not succeed in changing them1 although their civilization is not itself original1 and so should have less power of resistance4 ,it is notorious that the ,arabian people1 itself weak in numbers1 continually incorporated the remnants of the races it had conquered by the sword4 ,the ,mussulmans form a very mixed population1 with an equally hybrid culture1 of which it is easy to disentangle the elements4 ,the conquering nucleus did not1 before ,mohammed1 consist of a new or unknown people4 ,its traditions were held in common with the ,semite and ,hamite families from which it was originally derived4 ,it was brought into conflict with the ,phnicians and the ,jews1 and had the blood of both in its veins4 ,it played a middleman's part in their ,red ,sea trade1 and on the eastern coasts of ,india and ,africa4 ,it did the same1 later1 for the ,persians and the ,romans4 ,many ,arab tribes took part in the political life of ,persia under the ,arsacid and ,sassanid1 while some of their princes1 like ,odenathus1#ajh were proclaimed ,csar1 some of their princesses1 like ,zenobia1 daughter of ,amru and ,queen of ,palmyra1 won a glory that was distinctively ,roman1 and some of their adventurers1 like ,philip1 even raised themselves to the ,imperial purple4 ,thus this hybrid nation had never ceased1 from the most ancient times1 to make itself felt among the powerful societies among which it lived4 ,it had associated itself with their work1 and like a body half sunk in water1 half exposed to the sun1 contained at one and the same time elements of barbarism and of an advanced civilization4 ,mohammed invented the religion that was best fitted to the mental state of his people1 where idolatry found many followers1 but where ,christianity1 distorted by heretics and ,judaizers1 made just as many proselytes4 ,in the religious system of the ,prophet of ,koresh the reconciliation between the law of ,moses and the ,christian faith was more complete than in the doctrines of the ,church4 ,this problem had greatly exercised the minds of the early ,catholics1 and was always present to the ,oriental conscience4 ,hence ,mohammed's gift had already an appetizing appearance1 and besides1 any theological novelty had a good chance of gaining converts among the ,syrians and ,egyptians4 ,to crown all1 the new religion came forward sword in hand2 this was another guarantee of success among the masses1 who had no common bond of union1 other than the strong conviction of their helplessness4 ,it was thus that ,islam came forth from the desert4 ,arrogant1 uninventive1 and with a civilization that was already1 for the most part1 ,grco-,asiatic1 it found the ground prepared for it4 ,its recruits1 on the ,east and ,south coasts of the ,mediterranean1 had already been saturated with the complex product which it was bringing to them1 and which in turn it reabsorbed4 ,the new cult1 that had borrowed its doctrines from the ,church1 the ,synagogue1 and the garbled traditions of the ,hedjaz and the ,yemen1 extended from ,bagdad to ,montpellier2 and with the cult came its ,persian and ,roman laws1 its ,grco-,syrian#aji and ,egyptian science1 and its system of administration1 which was tolerant from the first1 as is natural where there is no unity in the ,state organism4 ,we need not be astonished at the rapid progress in refinement made by the ,mussulmans4 ,the greater part of the people had merely changed their habits for the time being4 ,when they began to play the part of apostles in the world1 their identity was not at once recognized2 they had not been known under their old names for some time4 ,another important point must be remembered4 ,in this varied collection of peoples1 each no doubt contributed its share to the common welfare4 ,but which of them had given the first push to the machine1 and which directed its motion for the short time it lasted8 ,why1 the little nucleus of ,arab tribes that had come from the interior of the peninsula1 and consisted1 not of philosophers1 but of fanatics1 soldiers1 conquerors1 and rulers4 ,arab civilization was merely the old ,grco-,syrian civilization1 modified by ,persian admixture1 and revived and rejuvenated by the new1 sharp breath of a genius4 ,hence1 although ready to make concessions1 it could not come to terms with any form of society that had a different origin from its own1 any more than the ,greek culture could with the ,roman1 although these were so near to each other and lived side by side for so many centuries within the same ,empire4 ,the preceding paragraphs are enough to show how impossible it is that the civilizations belonging to racially distinct groups should ever be fused together4 ,the irreconcilable antagonism between different races and cultures is clearly established by history1 and such innate repulsion must imply unlikeness and inequality4 ,if it is admitted that the ,european cannot hope to civilize the negro1 and manages to transmit to the mulatto only a very few of his own characteristics2 if the children of a mulatto and a white woman cannot really understand anything better than a hybrid culture1 a little nearer than their father's to the ideas of the white race1--in that case1 ,i am right in saying that the different races are unequal in intelligence4 ,i will not adopt the ridiculous method that is unhappily only too dear to our ethnologists4 ,i will not discuss1 as they do1 the moral and intellectual standing of individuals taken one by one4 ,i need not indeed speak of morality at all1 as ,i have already admitted the power of every human family to receive the light of ,christianity in its own way4 ,as to the question of intellectual merit1 ,i absolutely refuse to make use of the argument1 8every negro is a fool40#aaj ,my main reason for avoiding it is that ,i should have to recognize1 for the sake of balance1 that every ,european is intelligent2 and heaven keep me from such a paradox6 ,i will not wait for the friends of equality to show me such and such passages in books written by missionaries or sea-captains1 who declare that some ,yolof is a fine carpenter1 some ,hottentot a good servant1 that some ,kaffir dances and plays the violin1 and some ,bambara knows arithmetic4 ,i am ready to admit without proof all the marvels of this kind that anyone can tell me1 even about the most degraded savages4 ,i have already denied that even the lowest tribes are absolutely stupid4 ,i actually go further than my opponents1 as ,i have no doubt that a fair number of negro chiefs are superior1 in the wealth of their ideas1 the synthetic power of their minds1 and the strength of their capacity for action1 to the level usually reached by our peasants1 or even by the average specimens of our half-educated middle class4 ,but1 ,i say again1 ,i do not take my stand on the narrow ground of individual capacity4 ,it seems to me unworthy of science to cling to such futile arguments4 ,if ,mungo ,park or ,lander have given a certificate of intelligence to some negro1 what is to prevent another traveller1 who meets the same phnix1 from coming to a diametrically opposite conclusion8 ,let us leave these puerilities1 and compare together1 not men1 but groups4 ,when1 as may happen some day1 we have carefully investigated what the different groups can and cannot do1 what is the limit of their faculties and the utmost reach of their intelligence1 by what nations they have been dominated since the dawn of history--then and then only shall we have the right to consider why the higher individuals of one race are inferior to the geniuses of another4 ,we may then go on to compare the powers of the average men belonging to these types1 and to find out where these powers are equal and where one surpasses the other4 ,but this difficult and delicate task cannot be performed until the relative position of the different races has been accurately1 and to some extent mathematically1 gauged4 ,i do not even know if we shall ever get clear and undisputed results1 if we shall ever be free to go beyond a mere general conclusion and come to such close grips with the minor varieties as to be able to recognize1 define1 and classify the lower strata and the average minds of each nation4 ,if we can do this1 we shall easily be able to show that the activity1 energy1 and intelligence of the least gifted individuals in the dominant races1 are greater than the same qualities in the corresponding specimens produced by the other groups4#aaa ,mankind is thus divided into unlike and unequal parts1 or rather into a series of categories1 arranged1 one above the other1 according to differences of intellect4 ,in this vast hierarchy there are two great forces always acting on each member of the series4 ,these forces are continually setting up movements that tend to fuse the races together2 they are1 as ,i have already indicated1#aab 7i7 resemblance in general bodily structure and 7ii7 the common power of expressing ideas and sensations by the modulation of the voice4 ,i have said enough about the first of these1 and have shown the true limits within which it operates4 ,i will now discuss the second point1 and inquire what is the relation between the power of a race and the merit of its language2 in other words1 whether the strongest races have the best idioms1 and if not1 how the anomaly may be explained4 ,,chapter ,,xv ,,the ,,different ,,languages ,,are ,,unequal1 ,,and ,,correspond ,,perfectly ,,in ,,relative ,,merit ,,to ,,the ,,races ,,that ,,use ,,them ,if a degraded people1 at the lowest rung of the racial ladder1 with as little significance for the 8male0 as for the 8female0 progress of mankind1 could possibly have invented a language of philosophic depth1 of sthetic beauty and flexibility1 rich in characteristic forms and precise idioms1 fitted alike to express the sublimities of religion1 the graces of poetry1 the accuracy of physical and political science1--such a people would certainly possess an utterly useless talent1 that of inventing and perfecting an instrument which their mental capacity would be too weak to turn to any account4 ,we should have1 in such a case1 to believe that our observation has been suddenly brought to a stop1 not by something unknown or unintelligible 7as often happens7 but by a mere absurdity4 ,at first sight1 this tantalizing answer seems the correct one4 ,if we take the races as they are to-day1 we must admit that the perfection of idiom is very far from corresponding1 in all cases1 to the degree of civilization reached4 ,the tongues of modern ,europe1 to speak of no others1 are unequal in merit1 and the richest and most beautiful do not necessarily belong to the most advanced people4 ,further1 they are one and all vastly inferior to many languages which have been at different times spoken in the world4 ,a still more curious fact is that the languages of whole groups of peoples which have stopped at a low level of culture may be of considerable merit4 ,thus the net of language1 with its varied meshes1 might seem to have been cast over mankind at random1 the silk and the gold sometimes covering rude1 ferocious1 and miserable tribes1 while wise and learned peoples are still caught in the hemp1 the wool1 and the horsehair4 ,happily1 this is so only in appearance4 ,if1 with the aid of history1 we apply our doctrine of the difference of races1 we shall soon find that our proofs of their intellectual inequality are even strengthened4 ,the early philologists were doubly in error1 when they thought1 first that all languages are formed on the same principle1 secondly that language was invented merely under the stress of material needs4 ,in the former point they were influenced by the unitarian doctrine that all human groups have a common origin4 ,with regard to language1 doubt is not even possible4 ,the modes of formation are completely different2 and whether the classifications of philology require revision or not1 we cannot believe for a moment that the ,altaic1 ,aryan1 and ,semitic families were not from the first absolutely foreign to each other4 ,nothing is the same4 ,the vocabulary has its own peculiar character in each of these groups4 ,there is a different modulation of the voice in each4 ,in one1 the lips are used to produce the sounds2 in another1 the contraction of the throat2 in another the nasal passage and the upper part of the head4 ,the composition of the parts of speech1 according as they confuse or distinguish the various shades of thought1 points equally to a difference of origin4 ,the most striking proof of the divergence in thought and feeling between one group and another are seen in the inflexions of the substantive and the conjugations of the verb4 ,when1 therefore1 the philosopher tries to give an account of the origin of language by a process of purely abstract conjecture1 and begins by conceiving an 8original man10 without any specific racial or linguistic character1 he starts from an absurdity1 and continues on the same lines4 ,there is no such being as 8man0 in the abstract2 and ,i am especially sure that he will not be discovered by the investigation of language4 ,i cannot argue on the basis that mankind started from some one point in its creation of idiom4 ,there were many points of departure1 because there were many forms of thought and feeling4#aac ,the second view1 ,i think1 is just as false4 ,according to this theory1 there would have been no development save as dictated by necessity4 ,the result would be that the 8male0 races would have a richer and more accurate language than the 8female02 further1 as material needs are concerned with objects apprehended by the senses1 and especially with actions1 the main factor of human speech would be vocabulary4 ,there would be no necessity for the syntax and grammatical structure to advance beyond the simplest and most elementary combinations4 ,a series of sounds more or less linked together is always enough to express a need2 and a gesture1 as the ,chinese know well1 is an obvious form of commentary1 when the phrase is obscure without it4#aad ,not only would the synthetic power of language remain undeveloped2 it would also be the poorer for dispensing with harmony1 quantity1 and rhythm4 ,for what is the use of melody when the sole object is to obtain some positive result8 ,a language1 in fact1 would be a mere chance collection of arbitrary sounds4 ,certain questions are apparently cleared up by such a theory4 ,chinese1 the tongue of a masculine race1 seems to have been at first developed with a purely utilitarian aim4 ,the word has never risen above a mere sound1 and has remained monosyllabic4 ,there is no evolution of vocabulary1 no root giving birth to a family of derivatives4 ,all the words are roots2 they are not modified by suffixes1 but by each other1 according to a very crude method of juxtaposition4 ,the grammar is extremely simple2 which makes the phraseology very monotonous4 ,the very idea of sthetic value is excluded1 at any rate for ears that are accustomed to the rich1 varied1 and abundant forms1 the inexhaustible combinations of happier tongues4 ,we must however add that this may not be the impression produced on the ,chinese themselves2 and their spoken language certainly aims at some kind of beauty1 since there are definite rules governing the melodic sequence of sounds4 ,if it does not succeed in being so euphonious as other languages1 we must still recognize that it aims at euphony no less than they4 ,further1 the primary elements of ,chinese are something more than a mere heaping together of useful sounds4#aae ,i admit that the masculine races may be markedly inferior in sthetic power to the others1#aaf and their inferiority may be reproduced in their idioms4 ,this is shown1 not merely by the relative poverty of ,chinese1 but also by the careful way in which certain ,western races have robbed ,latin of its finest rhythmic qualities1 and ,gothic of its sonority4 ,the inferiority of our modern languages1 even the best of them1 to ,sanscrit1 ,greek1 and ,latin1 is self-evident1 and corresponds exactly to the mediocrity of the ,chinese civilization and our own1 so far as art and literature are concerned4 ,i admit that this difference1 alone with others1 may serve to mark off the languages of the masculine races4 ,they still1 however1 have a feeling for rhythm 7less than that of the ancient tongues1 but still powerful71 and make a real attempt to create and obey laws of correspondence between sounds and the forms by which thought is modified in speech4 ,i conclude that even in the languages of masculine races there still flickers the intellectual spark1 the feeling for beauty and logic2 this feeling1 as well as that of material need1 must preside at the birth of every language4 ,i said above that if material need had reigned alone1 a set of any chance sounds would have been enough for human necessities1 in the first ages of man's existence4 ,such a theory cannot be maintained4 ,sounds are not assigned to ideas by pure chance4 ,the choice is governed by the instinctive recognition of a certain logical relation between noises heard outwardly by man's ear and ideas that his throat or tongue wishes to express4 ,in the eighteenth century men were greatly struck by this truth4 ,unfortunately1 it was caught in the net of etymological exaggeration so characteristic of the time2 and its results were so absurd that they justly fell into disrepute4 ,for a long time the best minds were warned off the land that had been so stupidly exploited by the early pioneers4 ,they are now beginning to return to it again1 and if they have learnt prudence and restraint in the bitter school of experience1 they may arrive at valuable conclusions4 ,without pushing a theory1 true in itself1 into the realm of chimeras1 we may allow that primitive speech knew how to use as far as possible the different impressions received by the ear1 in order to form certain classes of words2 in creating others it was guided by the feeling of a mysterious relation between certain abstract ideas and some particular noises4 ,thus1 for example1 the sound of seems to suggest death and dissolution1 that of v or w1 vagueness in the moral or physical realm1 vows1 wind1 and the like2 s suggests starkness and standing fast1 m maternity1 and so on4#aag ,such a theory is sufficiently well founded for us to take it seriously1 if kept within due limits4 ,but it must be used with great circumspection1 if we are not to find ourselves in the dark paths where even common sense is soon led astray4 ,the last paragraph may show1 however imperfectly1 that material need is not the only element that produces a language1 but that the best of man's powers have helped in the task4 ,sounds were not applied arbitrarily to ideas and objects1 and in this respect men followed a pre-established order1 one side of which was manifested in themselves4 ,thus the primitive tongues1 however crude and poor they may have been1 contained all the elements from which their branches might at a later time be developed in a logical and necessary sequence4 ,w4 von ,humboldt has observed1 with his usual acuteness1 that every language is independent of the will of those who speak it4 ,it is closely bound up with their intellectual condition1 and is beyond the reach of arbitrary caprice4 ,it cannot be altered at will1 as is curiously shown by the efforts that have been made to do so4 ,the ,bushmen have invented a system of changing their language1 in order to prevent its being understood by the uninitiated4 ,we find the same custom among certain tribes of the ,caucasus4 ,but all their efforts come to no more than the mere insertion of a subsidiary syllable at the beginning1 middle1 or end of words4 ,take away this parasitic element1 and the language remains the same1 changed neither in forms nor syntax4 ,de ,sacy has discovered a more ambitious attempt1 in the language called 8,balabalan40 ,this curious idiom was invented by the ,sufis1 to be used in their mystical books1 with the object of wrapping the speculations of their theologians in still greater mystery4 ,they made up1 on no special plan1 the words that seemed to them to sound most strangely to their ears4 ,if however this so-called language did not belong to any family and if the meaning given to its sounds was entirely arbitrary1 yet the principles of euphony1 the grammar and the syntax1 everything in fact which gives a language its special character1 bore the unmistakable stamp of ,arabic and ,persian4 ,the ,sufis produced a jargon at once ,aryan and ,semitic1 and of no importance whatever4 ,the pious colleagues of ,djelat-,eddin-,rumi were not able to invent a language2 and clearly this power has not been given to any single man4#aah ,hence the language of a race is closely bound up with its intelligence1 and has the power of reflecting its various mental stages1 as they are reached4 ,this power may be at first only implicit4#aai ,where the mental development of a race is faulty or imperfect1 the language suffers to the same extent4 ,this is shown by ,sanscrit1 ,greek1 and the ,semitic group1 as well as by ,chinese1 in which ,i have already pointed out a utilitarian tendency corresponding to the intellectual bent of the people4 ,the superabundance of philosophical and ethnological terms in ,sanscrit corresponds to the genius of those who spoke it1 as well as its richness and rhythmic beauty4 ,the same is the case with ,greek2 while the lack of precision in the ,semitic tongues is exactly paralleled by the character of the ,semitic peoples4 ,if we leave the cloudy heights of the remoter ages1 and come down to the more familiar regions of modern history1 we shall be1 as it were1 presiding at the birth of many new tongues2 and this will make us see with even greater clearness how faithfully language mirrors the genius of a race4 ,as soon as two nations are fused together1 a revolution takes place in their respective languages2 this is sometimes slow1 sometimes sudden1 but always inevitable4 ,the languages are changed and1 after a certain time1 die out as separate entities4 ,the new tongue is a compromise between them1 the dominant element being furnished by the speech of the race that has contributed most members to the new people4#abj ,thus1 from the thirteenth century1 the ,germanic dialects of ,france have had to yield ground1 not to ,latin1 but to the lingua romana1 with the revival of the ,gallo-,roman power4#aba ,celtic1 too1 had to retreat before the ,italian colonists4 ,it did not yield to ,italian civilization2 in fact1 one might say1 that1 thanks to the number of those who spoke it1 ,celtic finally gained a kind of victory4 ,for after the complete fusion of the ,gauls1 the ,romans1 and the northern tribes1 it was ,celtic that laid the foundations of modern ,french syntax1 abolished the strong accentuation of ,germanic as well as the sonority of ,latin1 and introduced its own equable rhythm4 ,the gradual development of ,french is merely the effect of this patient labour1 that went on1 without ceasing1 under the surface4 ,again1 the reason why modern ,german has lost the striking forms to be seen in the ,gothic of ,bishop ,ulfilas lies in the presence of a strong ,cymric element in the midst of the small ,germanic population that was still left to the east of the ,rhine1#abb after the great migrations of the sixth and following centuries of our era4 ,the linguistic results of the fusion of two peoples are as individual as the new racial character itself4 ,one may say generally that no language remains pure after it has come into close contact with a different language4 ,even when their structures are totally unlike each other1 the vocabulary at any rate suffers some changes4 ,if the parasitic language has any strength at all1 it will certainly attack the other in its rhythmic quality1 and even in the unstable parts of its syntax4 ,thus language is one of the most fragile and delicate forms of property2 and we may often see a noble and refined speech being affected by barbarous idioms and passing itself into a kind of relative barbarism4 ,by degrees it will lose its beauty2 its vocabulary will be impoverished1 and many of its forms obsolete1 while it will show an irresistible tendency to become assimilated to its inferior neighbour4 ,this has happened in the case of ,wallachian and ,rhtian1 ,kawi and ,birman4 ,the two latter have been leavened with ,sanscrit elements2 but in spite of this noble alliance1 they have been declared by competent judges to be inferior to ,delaware4#abc ,the group of tribes speaking this dialect are of the ,lenni-,lenapes family1 and they originally ranked higher than the two yellow peoples who were caught in the sweep of ,hindu civilization4 ,if1 in spite of their primitive superiority1 they are now inferior to the ,asiatics1 it is because these live under the influence of the social institutions of a noble race and have profited by them1 though in themselves they are of slight account4 ,contact with the ,hindus has been enough to raise them some way in the scale1 while the ,lenapes1 who have never been touched by any such influence1 have not been able to rise above their present civilization4 ,in a similar way 7to take an obvious example7 the young mulattoes who have been educated in ,london or ,paris may show a certain veneer of culture superior to that of some ,southern ,italian peoples1 who are in point of merit infinitely higher2 for once a mulatto1 always a mulatto4 ,when therefore we come upon a savage tribe with a language better than that of a more civilized nation1 we must examine carefully whether the civilization of the latter really belongs to it1 or is merely the result of a slight admixture of foreign blood4 ,if so1 a low type of native language helped out by a hybrid mixture of foreign idioms may well exist side by side with a certain degree of social culture4#abd ,i have already said that1 as each civilization has a special character1 we must not be surprised if the poetic and philosophic sense was more developed among the ,hindus and the ,greeks than among ourselves2 whereas our modern societies are marked rather by their practical1 scientific1 and critical spirit4 ,taken as a whole1 we have more energy and a greater genius for action than the conquerors of ,southern ,asia and ,hellas4 ,on the other hand1 we must yield them the first place in the kingdom of beauty1 and here our languages naturally mirror our humble position4 ,the style of the ,indian and ,ionian writers takes a more powerful flight towards the sphere of the ideal4 ,language1 in fact1 while being an excellent index of the general elevation of races1 is in a special degree the measure of their sthetic capacities4 ,this is the character it assumes when we use it as a means of comparing different civilizations4 ,to bring out this point further1 ,i will venture to question a view put forward by ,william von ,humboldt1 that in spite of the obvious superiority of the ,mexican to the ,peruvian language1 the civilization of the ,incas was yet far above that of the people of ,anahuac4#abe ,the ,peruvian customs were certainly more gentle than the ,mexican2 and their religious ideas were as inoffensive as those of ,montezuma's subjects were ferocious4 ,in spite of this1 their social condition was marked by far less energy and variety4 ,their crude despotism never developed into more than a dull kind of communism2 whereas the ,aztec civilization had made various political experiments of great complexity4 ,its military system was far more vigorous2 and though the use of writing was equally unknown in both empires1 it seems that poetry1 history1 and ethics1 which were extensively studied at the time of ,cortes1 would have advanced further in ,mexico than in ,peru1 the institutions of which were coloured by an ,epicurean indifferentism that was highly unfavourable to intellectual progress4 ,clearly we must regard the more active people as superior4 ,von ,humboldt's view is simply a consequence of the way in which he defines civilization4#abf ,without going over the same ground again1 ,i was yet bound to clear up this point2 for if two civilizations had really been able to develop in inverse ratio to the merits of their respective languages1 ,i should have had to give up the idea of any necessary connexion between the intelligence of a people and the value of the language spoken by it4 ,but ,i cannot do this1 in view of what ,i have already said about ,greek and ,sanscrit1 as compared with ,english1 ,french1 and ,german4 ,it would be1 however1 a very difficult task to assign a reason1 along these lines1 for the exact course taken by the language of a hybrid people4 ,we have seldom sufficient knowledge either of the quantity or quality of the intermixture of blood to be able properly to trace its effects4 ,yet these racial influences persist1 and if they are not unravelled1 we may easily come to false conclusions4 ,it is just because the connexion between race and language is so close1 that it lasts much longer than the political unity of the different peoples1 and may be recognized even when the peoples are grouped under new names4 ,the language changes with their blood1 but does not die out until the last fragment of the national life has disappeared4 ,this is the case with modern ,greek4 ,sadly mutilated1 robbed of its wealth of grammar1 impoverished in the number of its sounds1 with the pure stream of its vocabulary troubled and muddy1 it has none the less retained the impress of its original form4#abg ,in the intellectual world it corresponds to the sullied and deflowered ,parthenon1 which first became a church for the ,greek popes1 and then a powder-magazine2 which had its pediments and columns shattered in a thousand places by the ,venetian bullets of ,morosini2 but which still stands1 for the wonder and adoration of the ages1 as a model of pure grace and unadorned majesty4 ,not every race has the power of being faithful to the tongue of its ancestors4 ,this makes our task still more difficult1 when we try to determine the origin or relative value of different human types by the help of philology4 ,not only do languages change without any obvious reason1 at any rate from the racial point of view2 but there are also certain nations which give up their own language altogether1 when they are brought for some time into contact with a foreign race4 ,this happened1 after the conquests of ,alexander1 in the case of the more enlightened nations of ,western ,asia1 such as the ,carians1 ,cappadocians1 and ,armenians4 ,the ,gauls are another instance1 as ,i have already said4 ,yet all these peoples brought a foreign element into the conquering tongue1 which was transformed in its turn4 ,thus they could all be regarded as using their own intellectual tools1 though to a very imperfect extent2 while others1 more tenacious of theirs1 such as the ,basques1 the ,berbers of ,mount ,atlas1 and the ,ekkhilis of ,southern ,arabia1 speak even at the present day the same tongue as was spoken by their most primitive ancestors4 ,but there are certain peoples1 the ,jews for example1 who seem never to have held to their ancestral speech at all2 and we can discover this indifference from the time of their earliest migrations4 ,when ,terah left the land of his fathers1 ,ur of the ,chaldees1 he certainly had not learnt the ,canaanitish tongue that henceforth became the national speech of the children of ,israel4 ,it was probably influenced to some extent by their earlier recollections1 and in their mouth became a special dialect of the very ancient language which was the mother of the earliest ,arabic we know1 and the lawful inheritance of tribes closely allied to the black ,hamites4#abh ,yet not even to this language were the ,jews to remain faithful4 ,the tribes who were brought back from captivity by ,zerubbabel had forgotten it during their short stay of sixty-two years by the rivers of ,babylon4 ,their patriotism was proof against exile1 and still burned with its original fire2 but the rest had been given up1 with remarkable facility1 by a people which is at the same time jealous of its own traditions and extremely cosmopolitan4 ,jerusalem was rebuilt1 and its inhabitants reappeared1 speaking an ,aramaic or ,chaldean jargon1 which may have had some slight resemblance to the speech of the fathers of ,abraham4 ,at the time of ,christ1 this dialect offered only a feeble resistance to the invasion of ,hellenistic ,greek1 which assailed the ,jewish mind on all sides4 ,henceforth all the works produced by ,jewish writers appeared in the new dress1 which fitted them more or less elegantly1 and copied to some extent the old ,attic fashions4 ,the last canonical books of the ,old ,testament1 as well as the works of ,philo and ,josephus1 are ,hellenistic in spirit4 ,when the ,holy ,city was destroyed1 and the ,jewish nation scattered1 the favour of ,god departed from them1 and the ,east came again into its own4 ,hebrew culture broke with ,athens as it had broken with ,alexandria1 and the language and ideas of the ,talmud1 the teaching of the school of ,tiberias1 were again ,semitic1 sometimes in the form of ,arabic1 sometimes in that of the 8language of ,canaan10 to use ,isaiah's phrase4 ,i am speaking of what was henceforth to be the sacred language of religion and the ,rabbis1 and was regarded as the true national speech4 ,in their everyday life1 however1 the ,jews used the tongue of the country where they settled2 and1 further1 these exiles were known everywhere by their special accent4 ,they never succeeded in fitting their vocal organs to their adopted language1 even when they had learnt it from childhood4 ,this goes to confirm what ,william von ,humboldt says as to the connexion between race and language being so close that later generations never get quite accustomed to pronounce correctly words that were unknown to their ancestors4#abi ,whether this be true or not1 we have in the ,jews a remarkable proof of the fact that one must not always assume1 at first sight1 a close connexion between a race and its language1 for the language may not have belonged to it originally4#acj ,we see how cautiously we must tread if we attempt to infer an identity of race from the affinity1 or even the resemblance1 of languages4 ,not only have most of the nations of ,western ,asia and nearly all those of ,southern ,europe merely adapted the speech of others to their own use1 while leaving its main elements untouched2 but there are also some who have taken over languages absolutely foreign to them1 to which they have made no contribution whatever4 ,the latter case is certainly rarer1 and may even be regarded as an anomaly4 ,but its mere existence is enough to make us very careful in admitting a form of proof in which such exceptions are possible4 ,on the other hand1 since they are exceptions1 and are not met with so often as the opposite case1 of a national tongue being preserved for centuries by even a weak nation2 since we also see how a language is assimilated to the particular character of the people that has created it1 and how its changes are in exact proportion to the successive modifications in the people's blood2 since the part played by a language in forming its derivatives varies with the numerical strength1 in the new groups1 of the race that speaks it1 we may justly conclude that no nation can have a language of greater value than itself1 except under special circumstances4 ,as this point is of considerable importance1 ,i will try to bring it out by a new line of proof4 ,we have already seen that the civilization of a composite people does not include all its social classes4#aca ,the racial influences that were at work in the lower strata from the first still go on2 and they prevent the directing forces of the national culture from reaching the depths at all1--if they do1 their action is weak and transitory4 ,in ,france1 about five-eighths of the total population play merely an unwilling and passive part in the development of modern ,european culture1 and that only by fits and starts4 ,with the exception of ,great ,britain1 of which the insular position produces a greater unity of type1 the proportion is even higher in the rest of the ,continent4 ,i will speak of ,france at greater length1 as an instance of the exact correspondence between language and racial type2 for in ,france we have a particular instance that strikingly confirms our main thesis4 ,we know little1 or rather we have no real evidence at all1 of the phases which ,celtic and rustic ,latin#acb passed through before they met and coalesced4 ,nevertheless1 ,st4 ,jerome and his contemporary ,sulpicius ,severus tell us 7the former in his 8,commentaries0 on ,st4 ,paul's ,epistle to the ,galatians1 the second in his 8,dialogue on the virtues of the ,eastern ,monks07 that in their time at least two languages were generally spoken in ,gaul4 ,there was1 first1 ,celtic1 which was preserved on the banks of the ,rhine in so pure a form1 that it remained identical with the language spoken by the ,galatians of ,asia ,minor1 who had been separated from their mother country for more than six centuries4#acc ,secondly1 there was the language called 8,gallic10 which according to a commentator1 can only have been a form1 already broken down1 of ,popular ,latin4 ,this fourth century dialect1 while different from the ,gallic of ,treves1 was spoken neither in the ,west nor in ,aquitaine4 ,it was found only in the centre and south of what is now ,france1 and was itself probably split up into two great divisions4 ,it is the common source of the currents1 more or less ,latinized1 which were mingled with other elements in different proportions1 and formed later the langue d'oil and the lingua romana1 in the narrower sense4 ,i will speak first of the latter4 ,in order to bring it into being1 all that was necessary was a slight alteration in the vocabulary of ,latin1 and the introduction of a few syntactical notions borrowed from ,celtic and other languages till then unknown in the ,west of ,europe4 ,the ,imperial colonies had brought in a fair number of ,italian1 ,african1 and ,asiatic elements4 ,the ,burgundian1 and especially the ,gothic1 invasions added another1 which was marked by considerable harmony1 liveliness1 and sonority4 ,its vocabulary was further increased after the inroads of the ,saracens4 ,thus the lingua romana became1 in its rhythmic quality1 quite distinct from ,gallic1 and soon assumed a character of its own4 ,it is true that we do not find this in its perfection1 in the 8,oath of the ,sons of ,ludwig the ,pious10 as we do later in the poems of ,raimbaut de ,vaqueiras or ,bertran de ,born4#acd ,yet even in the 8,oath0 we can recognize the language for what it is2 it has already acquired its main features1 and its future path is clearly mapped out4 ,it formed henceforth 7in its different dialects of ,limousin1 ,provenal1 and ,auvergnat7 the speech of a people of as mixed an origin as any in the world4 ,it was a refined and supple language1 witty1 brilliant1 and satirical1 but without depth or philosophy4 ,it was of tinsel rather than gold1 and had never been able to do more than pick up a few ingots on the surface of the rich mines that lay open to it4 ,without any serious principles1 it was destined to remain an instrument of indifference1 of universal scepticism and mockery4 ,it did not fail to be used as such4 ,the people cared for nothing but pleasure and parade4 ,brave to a fault1 beyond measure gay1 spending their passion on a dream1 and their vitality on idle toys1 they had an instrument that was exactly suited to their character1 and which1 though admired by ,dante1 was put to no better use in poetry than to tag satires1 love-songs1 and challenges1 and in religion to support heresies such as that of the ,albigenses1 a pestilent ,manicheism1 without value even for literature1 from which an ,english author1 in no way ,catholic in his sympathies1 congratulates the ,papacy on having delivered the ,middle ,ages4#ace ,such was the lingua romana of old1 and such do we find it even to-day4 ,it is pretty rather than beautiful1 and shows on the surface how little it is fitted to serve a great civilization4 ,was the langue d'oil formed in a similar way8 ,obviously not4 ,however the ,celtic1 ,latin1 and ,germanic elements were fused 7for we cannot be certain on this point1 in the absence of records going back to the earliest period of the language#acf71 it is at any rate clear that it rose from a strongly marked antagonism between the three tongues1 and that it would thus have a character and energy quite incompatible with such compromises and adaptations as those which gave birth to the lingua romana4 ,in one moment of its life1 the langue d'oil was partly a ,germanic tongue4 ,in the written remains that have survived1 we find one of the best qualities of the ,aryan languages1 the power of forming compounds4 ,this power1 it is true1 is limited2 and though still considerable1 is less than in ,sanscrit1 ,greek1 and ,german4 ,in the nouns1 we find a system of inflexion by suffix1 and1 in consequence1 an ease in inverting the order which modern ,french has lost1 and which the language of the sixteenth century retained only to a slight extent1 its inversions being gained at the expense of clearness4 ,again1 the vocabulary of the langue d'oil included many words brought in by the ,franks4#acg ,thus it began by being almost as much ,germanic as ,gallic2 ,celtic elements appeared in its second stage1 and perhaps fixed the melodic principles of the language4 ,the best possible tribute to its merits is to be found in the successful experiment of ,littr1#ach who translated the first book of the 8,iliad0 literally1 line for line1 into ,french of the thirteenth century4 ,such a tour de force would be impossible in modern ,french4 ,such a language belonged to a people that was evidently very different from the inhabitants of ,southern ,gaul4 ,it was more deeply attached to ,catholicism2 its politics were permeated by a lively idea of freedom1 dignity1 and independence1 its institutions had no aim but utility4 ,thus the mission set before the popular literature was not to express the fancies of the mind or heart1 the freakishness of a universal scepticism1 but to put together the annals of the nation1 and to set down what was at that time regarded as the truth4 ,it is to this temper of the people and their language that we owe the great rhymed chronicles1 especially 8,garin le ,loherain10 which bear witness1 though it has since been denied1 to the predominance of the ,north4 ,unfortunately1 since the compilers of these traditions1 and even their original authors1 mainly aimed at preserving historical facts or satisfying their desire for positive and solid results1 poetry in the true sense1 the love of form and the search for beauty1 does not always bulk as large as it should in their long narratives4 ,the literature of the langue d'oil was1 above all1 utilitarian2 and so the race1 the language1 and the literature were in perfect harmony4 ,the ,germanic element in the race1 however1 being far less than the ,gallic basis or the ,roman accretions1 naturally began to lose ground4 ,the same thing took place in the language2 ,celtic and ,latin advanced1 ,germanic retreated4 ,that noble speech1 which we know only at its highest stage1 and which might have risen even higher1 began to decline and become corrupted towards the end of the thirteenth century4 ,in the fifteenth1 it was no more than a patois1 from which the ,germanic elements had completely disappeared4 ,the treasury was exhausted2 and what remained was an illogical and barbarous anomaly in the midst of the progress of ,celtic and ,latin4 ,thus in the sixteenth century the revival of classical studies found the language in ruins1 and tried to remodel it on the lines of ,greek and ,latin4 ,this was the professed aim of the writers of this great age4 ,they did not succeed1 and the seventeenth century1 wisely seeing that the irresistible march of events could in no wise be curbed by the hand of man1 set itself merely to improve the language from within2 for every day it was assuming more and more the forms best suited to the dominant race1 the forms1 in other words1 into which the grammatical life of ,celtic had formerly been cast4 ,although both the langue d'oil and ,french proper are marked by a greater unity than the lingua romana 7since the mixture of races and languages that gave birth to them was less complex7 yet they have produced separate dialects which survive to this day4 ,it is not doing these too much honour to call them dialects1 not patois4 ,they arose1 not from the corruption of the dominant type1 with which they were at least contemporary1 but from the different proportions in which the ,celtic1 ,latin1 and ,germanic elements1 that still make up the ,french nationality1 were mingled4 ,to the north of the ,seine1 we find the dialect of ,picardy2 this is1 in vocabulary and rhythmic quality1 very near ,flemish1 of which the ,germanic character is too obvious to be dwelt upon4 ,flemish1 in this respect1 shows the same power of choice as the langue d'oil1 which could in a certain poem1 without ceasing to be itself1 admit forms and expressions taken bodily from the language spoken at ,arras4#aci ,as we go south of the ,seine towards the ,loire1 the ,celtic elements in the provincial dialects grow more numerous4 ,in ,burgundian1 and the dialects of ,vaud and ,savoy1 even the vocabulary has many traces of ,celtic2 these are not found in ,french1 where the predominant factor is rustic ,latin4#adj ,i have shown above#ada how from the sixteenth century the influence of the north had given ground before the growing preponderance of the peoples beyond the ,loire4 ,the reader has merely to compare the present sections on language with my former remarks on blood to see how close is the relation between the speech of a people and its physical constitution4#adb ,i have dealt in detail with the special case of ,france1 but the principle could easily be illustrated from the rest of ,europe2 and it would be seen1 as a universal rule1 that the successive changes and modifications of a language are not1 as one usually hears1 the work of centuries4 ,if they were1 ,ekkhili1 ,berber1 ,euskara1 and ,bas-,breton would long have disappeared2 and yet they still survive4 ,the changes in language are caused by corresponding changes in the blood of successive generations1 and the parallelism is exact4 ,i must here explain a phenomenon to which ,i have already referred1 namely the renunciation by certain racial groups 7under pressure of special necessity1 or their own nature7 of their native tongue in favour of one which is more or less foreign to them4 ,i took the ,jews and the ,parsees as examples4 ,there are others more remarkable still2 for we find1 in ,america1 savage tribes speaking languages superior to themselves4 ,in ,america1 by a curious stroke of fate1 the most energetic nations have developed1 so to speak1 in secret4 ,the art of writing was unknown to them1 and their history proper begins very late and is nearly always very obscure4 ,the ,new ,world contains a great number of peoples which1 though they are neighbours and derive in different directions from a common origin1 have very little resemblance to each other4 ,according to d',orbigny1 the so-called 8,chiquitean group0 in ,central ,america is composed of tribes1 of which the largest contain about #aejj souls1 and the least numerous #ej and #cjj4 ,all these1 even the smallest1 have distinct languages4 ,such a state of things can only be the result of a complete racial anarchy4 ,on this hypothesis1 ,i am not at all surprised to see many of these tribes1 like the ,chiquitos1 in possession of a complicated and apparently scientific language4 ,the words used by the men are sometimes different from those of the women2 and in every case when a man borrows one of the women's phrases1 he changes the terminations4 ,where such luxury in vocabulary is possible1 the language has surely reached a very refined stage4 ,unfortunately1 side by side with this we find that the table of numerals does not go much further than ten4 ,such poverty1 in the midst of so much careful elaboration1 is probably due to the ravaging hand of time1 aided by the barbarous condition of the natives to-day4 ,when we see anomalies like these1 we cannot help recalling the sumptuous palaces1 once marvels of the ,renaissance1 which have come1 by some revolution1 into the hands of rude peasants4 ,the eye may rove with admiration over delicate columns1 elegant trellis-work1 sculptured porches1 noble staircases1 and striking gables--luxuries which are useless to the wretchedness that lives under them2 for the ruined roofs let in the rain1 the floors crack1 and the worm eats into the mouldering walls4 ,i can now say with certainty that1 with regard to the special character of races1 philology confirms all the facts of physiology and history4 ,its conclusions however must be handled with extreme care1 and when they are all we have to go upon1 it is very dangerous to rest content with them4 ,without the slightest doubt1 a people's language corresponds to its mentality1 but not always to its real value for civilization4 ,in order to ascertain this1 we must fix our eyes solely on the race by which1 and for which1 the language was at first designed4 ,now with the exception of the negroes1 and a few yellow groups1 we meet only quaternary races in recorded history4 ,all the languages we know are thus derivative1 and we cannot gain the least idea of the laws governing their formation except in the comparatively later stages4 ,our results1 even when confirmed by history1 cannot be regarded as infallibly proved4 ,the further we go back1 the dimmer becomes the light1 and the more hypothetical the nature of any arguments drawn from philology4 ,it is exasperating to be thrown back on these when we try to trace the progress of any human family or to discover the racial elements that make it up4 ,we know that ,sanscrit and ,zend are akin4 ,that is something2 but their common roots are sealed to us4 ,the other ancient tongues are in the same case4 ,we know nothing of ,euskara except itself4 ,as no analogue to it has been discovered up to now1 we are ignorant of its history1 and whether it is to be regarded as itself primitive or derived4 ,it yields us no positive knowledge as to whether the people who speak it are racially simple or composite4 ,ethnology may well be grateful for the help given by philology4 ,but the help must not be accepted unconditionally1 or any theories based on it alone4#adc ,this rule is dictated by a necessary prudence4 ,all the facts1 however1 mentioned in this chapter go to prove that1 originally1 there is a perfect correspondence between the intellectual virtues of a race and those of its native speech2 that languages are1 in consequence1 unequal in value and significance1 unlike in their forms and basic elements1 as races are also2 that their modifications1 like those of races1 come merely from intermixture with other idioms2 that their qualities and merits1 like a people's blood1 disappear or become absorbed1 when they are swamped by too many heterogeneous elements2 finally1 that when a language of a higher order is used by some human group which is unworthy of it1 it will certainly become mutilated and die out4 ,hence1 though it is often difficult to infer at once1 in a particular case1 the merits of a people from those of its language1 it is quite certain that in theory this can always be done4 ,i may thus lay it down1 as a universal axiom1 that the hierarchy of languages is in strict correspondence with the hierarchy of races4 ,,chapter ,,xvi ,,recapitulation2 ,,the ,,respective ,,characteristics ,,of ,,the ,,three ,,great ,,races2 ,,the ,,superiority ,,of ,,the ,,white ,,type1 ,,and1 ,,within ,,this ,,type1 ,,of ,,the ,,aryan ,,family ,i have shown the unique place in the organic world occupied by the human species1 the profound physical1 as well as moral1 differences separating it from all other kinds of living creatures4 ,considering it by itself1 ,i have been able to distinguish1 on physiological grounds alone1 three great and clearly marked types1 the black1 the yellow1 and the white4 ,however uncertain the aims of physiology may be1 however meagre its resources1 however defective its methods1 it can proceed thus far with absolute certainty4 ,the negroid variety is the lowest1 and stands at the foot of the ladder4 ,the animal character1 that appears in the shape of the pelvis1 is stamped on the negro from birth1 and foreshadows his destiny4 ,his intellect will always move within a very narrow circle4 ,he is not however a mere brute1 for behind his low receding brow1 in the middle of his skull1 we can see signs of a powerful energy1 however crude its objects4 ,if his mental faculties are dull or even non-existent1 he often has an intensity of desire1 and so of will1 which may be called terrible4 ,many of his senses1 especially taste and smell1 are developed to an extent unknown to the other two races4#add ,the very strength of his sensations is the most striking proof of his inferiority4 ,all food is good in his eyes1 nothing disgusts or repels him4 ,what he desires is to eat1 to eat furiously1 and to excess2 no carrion is too revolting to be swallowed by him4 ,it is the same with odours2 his inordinate desires are satisfied with all1 however coarse or even horrible4 ,to these qualities may be added an instability and capriciousness of feeling1 that cannot be tied down to any single object1 and which1 so far as he is concerned1 do away with all distinctions of good and evil4 ,we might even say that the violence with which he pursues the object that has aroused his senses and inflamed his desires is a guarantee of the desires being soon satisfied and the object forgotten4 ,finally1 he is equally careless of his own life and that of others3 he kills willingly1 for the sake of killing2 and this human machine1 in whom it is so easy to arouse emotion1 shows1 in face of suffering1 either a monstrous indifference or a cowardice that seeks a voluntary refuge in death4 ,the yellow race is the exact opposite of this type4 ,the skull points forward1 not backward4 ,the forehead is wide and bony1 often high and projecting4 ,the shape of the face is triangular1 the nose and chin showing none of the coarse protuberances that mark the negro4 ,there is further a general proneness to obesity1 which1 though not confined to the yellow type1 is found there more frequently than in the others4 ,the yellow man has little physical energy1 and is inclined to apathy2 he commits none of the strange excesses so common among negroes4 ,his desires are feeble1 his will-power rather obstinate than violent2 his longing for material pleasures1 though constant1 is kept within bounds4 ,a rare glutton by nature1 he shows far more discrimination in his choice of food4 ,he tends to mediocrity in everything2 he understands easily enough anything not too deep or sublime4#ade ,he has a love of utility and a respect for order1 and knows the value of a certain amount of freedom4 ,he is practical1 in the narrowest sense of the word4 ,he does not dream or theorize2 he invents little1 but can appreciate and take over what is useful to him4 ,his whole desire is to live in the easiest and most comfortable way possible4 ,the yellow races are thus clearly superior to the black4 ,every founder of a civilization would wish the backbone of his society1 his middle class1 to consist of such men4 ,but no civilized society could be created by them2 they could not supply its nerve-force1 or set in motion the springs of beauty and action4 ,we come now to the white peoples4 ,these are gifted with reflective energy1 or rather with an energetic intelligence4 ,they have a feeling for utility1 but in a sense far wider and higher1 more courageous and ideal1 than the yellow races2 a perseverance that takes account of obstacles and ultimately finds a means of overcoming them2 a greater physical power1 an extraordinary instinct for order1 not merely as a guarantee of peace and tranquillity1 but as an indispensable means of self-preservation4 ,at the same time1 they have a remarkable1 and even extreme1 love of liberty1 and are openly hostile to the formalism under which the ,chinese are glad to vegetate1 as well as to the strict despotism which is the only way of governing the negro4 ,the white races are1 further1 distinguished by an extraordinary attachment to life4 ,they know better how to use it1 and so1 as it would seem1 set a greater price on it2 both in their own persons and those of others1 they are more sparing of life4 ,when they are cruel1 they are conscious of their cruelty2 it is very doubtful whether such a consciousness exists in the negro4 ,at the same time1 they have discovered reasons why they should surrender this busy life of theirs1 that is so precious to them4 ,the principal motive is honour1 which under various names has played an enormous part in the ideas of the race from the beginning4 ,i need hardly add that the word honour1 together with all the civilizing influences connoted by it1 is unknown to both the yellow and the black man4 ,on the other hand1 the immense superiority of the white peoples in the whole field of the intellect is balanced by an inferiority in the intensity of their sensations4 ,in the world of the senses1 the white man is far less gifted than the others1 and so is less tempted and less absorbed by considerations of the body1 although in physical structure he is far the most vigorous4#adf ,such are the three constituent elements of the human race4 ,i call them secondary types1 as ,i think myself obliged to omit all discussion of the ,adamite man4 ,from the combination1 by intermarriage1 of the varieties of these types come the tertiary groups4 ,the quaternary formations are produced by the union of one of these tertiary types1 or of a pure-blooded tribe1 with another group taken from one of the two foreign species4 ,below these categories others have appeared--and still appear4 ,some of these are very strongly characterized1 and form new and distinct points of departure1 coming as they do from races that have been completely fused4 ,others are incomplete1 and ill-ordered1 and1 one might even say1 anti-social1 since their elements1 being too numerous1 too disparate1 or too barbarous1 have had neither the time nor the opportunity for combining to any fruitful purpose4 ,no limits1 except the horror excited by the possibility of infinite intermixture1 can be assigned to the number of these hybrid and chequered races that make up the whole of mankind4 ,it would be unjust to assert that every mixture is bad and harmful4 ,if the three great types had remained strictly separate1 the supremacy would no doubt have always been in the hands of the finest of the white races1 and the yellow and black varieties would have crawled for ever at the feet of the lowest of the whites4 ,such a state is so far ideal1 since it has never been beheld in history2 and we can imagine it only by recognizing the undisputed superiority of those groups of the white races which have remained the purest4 ,it would not have been all gain4 ,the superiority of the white race would have been clearly shown1 but it would have been bought at the price of certain advantages which have followed the mixture of blood4 ,although these are far from counterbalancing the defects they have brought in their train1 yet they are sometimes to be commended4 ,artistic genius1 which is equally foreign to each of the three great types1 arose only after the intermarriage of white and black4 ,again1 in the ,malayan variety1 a human family was produced from the yellow and black races that had more intelligence than either of its ancestors4 ,finally1 from the union of white and yellow1 certain intermediary peoples have sprung1 who are superior to the purely ,finnish tribes as well as to the negroes4 ,i do not deny that these are good results4 ,the world of art and great literature that comes from the mixture of blood1 the improvement and ennoblement of inferior races--all these are wonders for which we must needs be thankful4 ,the small have been raised4 ,unfortunately1 the great have been lowered by the same process2 and this is an evil that nothing can balance or repair4 ,since ,i am putting together the advantages of racial mixtures1 ,i will also add that to them is due the refinement of manners and beliefs1 and especially the tempering of passion and desire4 ,but these are merely transitory benefits1 and if ,i recognize that the mulatto1 who may become a lawyer1 a doctor1 or a business man1 is worth more than his negro grandfather1 who was absolutely savage1 and fit for nothing1 ,i must also confess that the ,brahmans of primitive ,india1 the heroes of the ,iliad and the ,shahnameh1 the warriors of ,scandinavia--the glorious shades of noble races that have disappeared--give us a higher and more brilliant idea of humanity1 and were more active1 intelligent1 and trusty instruments of civilization and grandeur than the peoples1 hybrid a hundred times over1 of the present day4 ,and the blood even of these was no longer pure4 ,however it has come about1 the human races1 as we find them in history1 are complex2 and one of the chief consequences has been to throw into disorder most of the primitive characteristics of each type4 ,the good as well as the bad qualities are seen to diminish in intensity with repeated intermixture of blood2 but they also scatter and separate off from each other1 and are often mutually opposed4 ,the white race originally possessed the monopoly of beauty1 intelligence1 and strength4 ,by its union with other varieties1 hybrids were created1 which were beautiful without strength1 strong without intelligence1 or1 if intelligent1 both weak and ugly4 ,further1 when the quantity of white blood was increased to an indefinite amount by successive infusions1 and not by a single admixture1 it no longer carried with it its natural advantages1 and often merely increased the confusion already existing in the racial elements4 ,its strength1 in fact1 seemed to be its only remaining quality1 and even its strength served only to promote disorder4 ,the apparent anomaly is easily explained4 ,each stage of a perfect mixture produces a new type from diverse elements1 and develops special faculties4 ,as soon as further elements are added1 the vast difficulty of harmonizing the whole creates a state of anarchy4 ,the more this increases1 the more do even the best and richest of the new contributions diminish in value1 and by their mere presence add fuel to an evil which they cannot abate4 ,if mixtures of blood are1 to a certain extent1 beneficial to the mass of mankind1 if they raise and ennoble it1 this is merely at the expense of mankind itself1 which is stunted1 abased1 enervated1 and humiliated in the persons of its noblest sons4 ,even if we admit that it is better to turn a myriad of degraded beings into mediocre men than to preserve the race of princes whose blood is adulterated and impoverished by being made to suffer this dishonourable change1 yet there is still the unfortunate fact that the change does not stop here2 for when the mediocre men are once created at the expense of the greater1 they combine with other mediocrities1 and from such unions1 which grow ever more and more degraded1 is born a confusion which1 like that of ,babel1 ends in utter impotence1 and leads societies down to the abyss of nothingness whence no power on earth can rescue them4 ,such is the lesson of history4 ,it shows us that all civilizations derive from the white race1 that none can exist without its help1 and that a society is great and brilliant only so far as it preserves the blood of the noble group that created it1 provided that this group itself belongs to the most illustrious branch of our species4 ,of the multitude of peoples which live or have lived on the earth1 ten alone have risen to the position of complete societies4 ,the remainder have gravitated round these more or less independently1 like planets round their suns4 ,if there is any element of life in these ten civilizations that is not due to the impulse of the white races1 any seed of death that does not come from the inferior stocks that mingled with them1 then the whole theory on which this book rests is false4 ,on the other hand1 if the facts are as ,i say1 then we have an irrefragable proof of the nobility of our own species4 ,only the actual details can set the final seal of truth on my system1 and they alone can show with sufficient exactness the full implications of my main thesis1 that peoples degenerate only in consequence of the various admixtures of blood which they undergo2 that their degeneration corresponds exactly to the quantity and quality of the new blood1 and that the rudest possible shock to the vitality of a civilization is given when the ruling elements in a society and those developed by racial change have become so numerous that they are clearly moving away from the homogeneity necessary to their life1 and it therefore becomes impossible for them to be brought into harmony and so acquire the common instincts and interests1 the common logic of existence1 which is the sole justification for any social bond whatever4 ,there is no greater curse than such disorder1 for however bad it may have made the present state of things1 it promises still worse for the future4 ,,note4--,the 8ten civilizations0 mentioned in the last paragraph are as follows4 ,they are fully discussed in the subsequent books of the 8,inequality of ,races10 of which the present volume forms the first4 ,i4 ,the ,indian civilization1 which reached its highest point round the ,indian ,ocean1 and in the north and east of the ,indian ,continent1 south-east of the ,brahmaputra4 ,it arose from a branch of a white people1 the ,aryans4 ,,ii4 ,the ,egyptians1 round whom collected the ,ethiopians1 the ,nubians1 and a few smaller peoples to the west of the oasis of ,ammon4 ,this society was created by an ,aryan colony from ,india1 that settled in the upper valley of the ,nile4 ,,iii4 ,the ,assyrians1 with whom may be classed the ,jews1 the ,phnicians1 the ,lydians1 the ,carthaginians1 and the ,hymiarites4 ,they owed their civilizing qualities to the great white invasions which may be grouped under the name of the descendants of ,shem and ,ham4 ,the ,zoroastrian ,iranians who ruled part of ,central ,asia under the names of ,medes1 ,persians1 and ,bactrians1 were a branch of the ,aryan family4 ,,iv4 ,the ,greeks1 who came from the same ,aryan stock1 as modified by ,semitic elements4 ,v4 ,the ,chinese civilization1 arising from a cause similar to that operating in ,egypt4 ,an ,aryan colony from ,india brought the light of civilization to ,china also4 ,instead however of becoming mixed with black peoples1 as on the ,nile1 the colony became absorbed in ,malay and yellow races1 and was reinforced1 from the north-west1 by a fair number of white elements1 equally ,aryan but no longer ,hindu4 ,,vi4 ,the ancient civilization of the ,italian peninsula1 the cradle of ,roman culture4 ,this was produced by a mixture of ,celts1 ,iberians1 ,aryans1 and ,semites4 ,,vii4 ,the ,germanic races1 which in the fifth century transformed the ,western mind4 ,these were ,aryans4 ,,viii4-,x4 ,the three civilizations of ,america1 the ,alleghanian1 the ,mexican1 and the ,peruvian4 ,of the first seven civilizations1 which are those of the ,old ,world1 six belong1 at least in part1 to the ,aryan race1 and the seventh1 that of ,assyria1 owes to this race the ,iranian ,renaissance1 which is1 historically1 its best title to fame4 ,almost the whole of the ,continent of ,europe is inhabited at the present time by groups of which the basis is white1 but in which the non-,aryan elements are the most numerous4 ,there is no true civilization1 among the ,european peoples1 where the ,aryan branch is not predominant4 ,in the above list no negro race is seen as the initiator of a civilization4 ,only when it is mixed with some other can it even be initiated into one4 ,similarly1 no spontaneous civilization is to be found among the yellow races2 and when the ,aryan blood is exhausted stagnation supervenes4 ,,index ,abraham1 #abc ,abu-,hanifah1 #abc ,achaemenidae1 #agf ,adair1 #gb ,adam1 #aah-i1 #ade schylus1 #ad1 #ii ,agrippa1 #ag ,albigenses1 #aih ,alcus1 #id ,alexander the ,great1 #dd1 #age-f1 #aic ,alexandria1 #fa ,alexandrians1 #ch1 #agf ,algiers1 #aga ,alleghany race1 #ga1 #agb ,altaic languages1 #ahc ,altai ,mountains1 #abh1 #ada ,amalfi1 #fa ,america1 ,anglo-,saxons of ,north1 #ci1 #ga1 #afj n4 ,anabaptists1 #bj ,anaxagoras1 #ad ,ancorso1 #adc ,andes1 #aae ,anglo-,saxons1 #cj1 #fi ,annam1 #afd ,anne1 ,queen1 #db ,antilles1 #ej ,antioch1 #fj ,antonines1 #ae ,antoninus ,pius1 #aa ,anubis1 #ff ,apollo1 #ajh-i ,appius ,claudius1 #i ,arabs1 #ba1 #eh1 #abb-e1 #agg-i ,aral1 ,lake1 #abh ,aramaic1 #aid ,aranda1 ,count of1 #eb ,ararat1 ,mount1 #adb ,araucans1 #aai ,arbela1 #cc ,arcadia1 #ei ,arginus1 #aeh ,aristophanes1 #ad1 #aeg ,aristotle1 #aff ,arkansas1 #ga ,armagnacs1 #ab ,armenians1 #eh1 #aic ,arsacid1 #agg ,artibonite1 #dh ,aryan languages1 #ahc1 #ahh1 #aii ,aryavarta1 #cb ,aseddin1 #abi ,ashik-,pacha-,zadeh1 #acj n4 ,aspasia1 #ad ,assyria1 #b1 #g1 #ef1 #gi ,assyrians1 #hg1 #abf ,athene1 #id ,athenians1 #g2 religion1 #ac1 #ag2 art and politics1 #aeg-h ,athens1 #ei1 #ajd ,atlas1 ,mount1 #ada ,attila1 #acb ,aurelian1 #ag ,auvergne1 #aba ,aymaras1 #he ,aztecs1 #h1 #ac1 #aib ,baber1 #abi n4 ,babylon1 #aj1 #aid ,bagdad1 #agh ,baker1 #acg-h ,balabalan1 #ahh ,bambaras1 #ahj ,barrow1 #aba n4 ,basques1 #aid ,belgium1 #ib1 #ii ,berbers1 #aid1 #bja ,berlin1 climate of1 #ch ,bernard1 ,st41 #fi ,bichat1 #bd ,birman1 #aij ,blumenbach1 #aji-aj1 #aai1 #adf ,botia1 #ei ,bordeaux1 #fj ,born1 ,bertran de1 #aig ,bossuet1 #ab ,brahmans1 #cb1 #fe2 civilization1 #hc1 #ig1 #bji2 religion1 #adb2 pacifism1 #afa ,brazil1 #abe n4 ,bremen1 #fj ,breton1 language1 #bja ,brittany1 #ag1 #dd1 #aja n4 ,buddhists1 #fe1 #ig ,burgundian1 #bja ,bushmen1 #ahg ,caciques1 #aga ,cadiz1 #aej ,csar1 ,julius1 #ae1 #aeh ,calabrians1 #aba ,calvinists1 #da ,camper1 #ajh-aj ,canaries1 #add1 #aee ,cappadocians1 #aic ,capri1 #fj ,carians1 #aic ,caroline ,islands1 #agc ,carthage1 #ac ,carthaginians1 #ce1 #ch1 #ff1 #gi ,carus1 #ed n41 #gd n41 #aaa-d1 #adi ,catalans1 #ib ,catawhas1 #agb ,cato1 #aeh ,catullus1 #aff ,caucasian1 #aai1 #adf ,caucasus1 #abg1 #ada-b1 #ahg ,celtic languages1 #ahi-ij1 #aif-bja ,celts1 #cb1 #ce1 #agb ,chagres1 #fa ,charlemagne1 #aej ,charles ,i1 of ,england1 #da2 ,,vii1 of ,france1 #dc ,cherokees1 #fi1 #ga-b1 #gd1 #aba1 #agb ,china1 #g1 #bj2 climate of1 #ef-g ,chinese1 #cc2 as traders1 #eh2 ,chinese ,christians1 #fd-e2 material civilization1 #hg1 #ie-g2 permanent characteristics1 #ach2 language1 #ahd-e ,chiquitos1 #bjb ,chlodwig1 #afj n4 ,christianity1 its fight against paganism1 #de2 relation to civilization1 chap4 vii passim ,cicero1 #aeh ,cincinnatus1 #aa ,cingalese1 #abf ,cirionos1 #ec ,civilization1 ,guizot's definition1 #hj-a2 von ,humboldt's definition1 #hb2 ,gobineau's definition1 #ia2 list of --s1 #baa-ab ,co-adjutor1 #da ,columbus1 #add ,confucius1 #gd n4 ,constantine1 #ae ,constantinople1 #fa1 #abh1 #aej ,coptic1 #ahe n4 ,cordilleras1 the1 #fd ,cordova1 #bi1 #agg ,corinth1 #ei ,coromandel ,coast1 #abb ,cortes1 #h1 #aib ,creeks1 #ga ,croats1 #bi ,cuba1 #ea ,cuvier1 #aah1 #acf1 #ada ,cuzco1 #afg ,cyrus the ,great1 #aj ,dahomey1 #dh1 #he ,damascus1 #eg ,dante1 #aih ,darius1 #aj1 #cc1 #agf ,davis1 #if ,deccan1 #adg ,decius1 #ag ,degeneration1 meaning of1 #be ,delaware1 #aij ,delhi1 #cd ,demeter1 #ei1 #id ,diocletian1 #ag1 #if ,djelat-,eddin-,rumi1 #ahh ,dodona1 #age ,draco1 #dj ,druids1 #dd ,ecbatana1 #age ,egypt1 #b1 #g1 #ef ,egyptians1 #cj1 #hj2 civilization1 #hg2 relations with ,islam1 #agh ,ekkhili1 #bja ,england1 luxury in1 #h2 change in institutions1 #db ,english1 as rulers of ,india1 #cd2 civilization1 #ha1 #ib1 #ig-ajb ,epicurus1 #ac ,erie1 ,lake1 #ee ,eskimos1 #fd-e1 #fi1 #aca ,etruscans1 #hj1 #aba ,euhemerus1 #af ,euphrates1 #ef ,europeans1 physical and mental characteristics of1 #ajg-h and chaps4 x1 xii1 xvi1 passim ,euskara1 #bja1 #bjc ,eve1 #aai ,fabii1 #cc1 #aei ,farnese ,hercules1 #ajh ,fatimites1 #g ,fellatahs1 #dh ,fnelon1 #ab ,ferdinand the ,catholic1 #da ,finns1 #ch1 #abg-cb1 #adf ,flourens1 #aaf ,france1 luxury in1 #h2 under ,english rule1 #bj2 change in institutions1 #dc ,franklin1 #ahj n4 ,franks1 #aii ,french1 civilization of1 #ha1 #ib2 power of resistance1 #aeb2 language1 #ahi1 #aif-bja ,galerius1 #af ,galla1 #fg ,gallatin1 #gb ,gallo-,romans1 #aa1 #aig ,garin le ,loherain1 #bjj-a ,gauls1 the1 independence of1 #agj ,gayaseddin-,keikosrev1 #abi ,genesis1 ,book of1 #aag-h ,genoese1 #h1 #gi ,gerando1 #acb ,germanic tribes1 #hg1 #ia1 #ic1 #abh2 language1 #ahi-ij1 #aih-i ,germany1 religious wars in1 #ba ,gioberti1 #aea ,goethe1 #hc1 #ahe n4 ,gothic1 #aij ,goths1 #aj1 #aig ,greece1 #b1 #g2 ,christianity in1 #ag2 climate of1 #ei ,greeks1 #h1 #aj2 civilization1 #hg-h1 #ib1 #id2 religion1 #adb2 relation to ,persians1 #agd-f2 language1 #aia-d ,grenada1 #bi ,grimm1 ,monsieur de1 #di ,guaranis1 #eb-c ,guizot1 #gg-hb ,gutenberg1 #afe ,ham1 #bi1 #dh ,hamites1 #aah1 #adf ,hanover1 #ib ,hanseatic towns1 #fj ,harmodius1 #aj ,hawaii1 #dg ,hayti1 #dh-ea ,hedjaz1 #agh ,helvetius1 #aea ,henry ,,iv1 of ,france1 #dc ,heracles1 ,tyrian1 #ff ,hindus1 #bi-cj1 #gf2 civilization1 #hj1 #hg1 #ia2 age of marriage among1 #abd ,holbach1 ,baron1 #di ,holland1 #ib1 #ii ,homer1 #aeg ,hottentots1 #aba1 #ahj ,humboldt1 ,a4 von1 #abi n41 #acb n41 #acg n41 #add n4 ,humboldt1 ,w4 von1 #hb-d1 #ahc n41 #ahg1 #aib1 #aie ,hungary1 #bi ,huns1 #acb ,huron1 #cg ,hussites1 #bj ,hybrids1 fertility of1 #aae-g ,hyderabad1 #cd ,iberians1 #agb-c ,ibn ,foszlan1 #afj n4 ,iliad1 the1 #aii1 #bji ,illyrians1 #agb ,india1 #g2 government of1 by the ,english1 #cd2 climate1 #ef-g2 art1 #ajd ,indians1 ,north-,american1 see ,redskins ,indians1 ,south-,american1 #aga ,ishmael1 #abb1 #agg ,isis1 #ff ,isola ,madre1 #add ,jamaica1 #ea ,james ,i1 of ,england1 #db ,janissaries1 #acj ,japanese1 #fd1 #hj ,japhet1 #aah ,javanese1 #de1 #aga ,jerome1 ,st41 #aig ,jesuits1 #ea-c1 #fh1 #abe n4 ,jews1 #c1 #bi2 growth1 #eh-i2 religion1 #ff2 physical identity1 #abb-c2 language1 #aid-e ,jovian1 #aa ,juda1 #ac ,julia1 #ae n4 ,julian1 #af ,jupiter1 #ac ,kabyles1 #eg ,kaffirs1 #he1 #ahj ,kalidasa1 #aeg ,kalmucks1 #ajh ,kamaun1 #adg ,kamehameha ,,iii1 #dg ,katai ,mountains1 #abh ,kawi1 #aij ,khalil ,chendereli1 #acj ,khorsabad1 #abf ,kirghiz-,kasaks1 #acb ,klemm1 #hf n4 ,koran1 #abc-d ,krapff1 #abe n4 ,kurds1 #bi ,lllius1 #ad ,lahore1 #cd ,lander1 #ahj ,languedoc1 #abb ,langue d'oil1 #aig1 #aii-bja ,lapps1 #fi1 #abg1 #aca1 #acc ,latin1 rustic1 #aif-g ,leila1 #abd ,lenni-,lenapes1 #ee n41 #aij-a ,lingua romana1 #ahi1 #aig-i ,littr1 #aii ,london1 mixture of races in1 #aej ,louis ,,xiv1 #ab1 #ba1 #aea ,lucrece1 #i ,ludolf1 #aad n4 ,lutherans1 ,danish1 #fi ,lycurgus1 #dj1 #db ,lyons1 #fj ,macaulay1 ,lord1 #aih ,macedonians1 the1 #cj1 #age ,magadha1 #g ,magi1 #ac ,magyars1 #bi1 #aca-c ,malabar1 #abb ,malays1 #eh1 #aaa-c1 #aeb1 #bjh ,manchus1 #bj ,manu1 ,code of1 #cb ,marcius1 ,ancus1 #ae n4 ,marianne ,islands1 the1 #agb ,marseilles1 #fj ,martial1 #aff ,martinique1 #ea ,maximin1 #af ,medusa1 #aji ,meiners1 #ajg n4 ,memphis1 #ch ,meru1 #adb ,mexico1 ,gulf of1 #ee ,mieris1 #aac n4 ,milan1 #fj ,mississippi1 #ga ,missouri1 #ee ,mohammedans1 #ea1 #agg-i ,mohammed ,,iv1 #acj ,mohammed 7the ,prophet71 #agg-h ,mongols1 #bj2 ,mongol ,christians1 #fd2 material civilization1 #he2 physical characteristics1 #aaa-e1 #aej4 ,see also ,yellow ,races ,montausier1 the1 #ab ,montpellier1 #agh ,moors1 #da ,moravians1 #fi1 #afa ,morosini1 #aic ,morton1 #aaa ,mulattoes1 #adi1 #bji ,muskhogees1 #agb ,mussulmans1 see ,mohammedans ,napoleon1 #da1 #aea ,narbonese ,gaul1 #dd ,narbonne1 #fj ,natchez1 #agb ,negroes1 incapacity for civilization1 #gd-e2 physical and mental characteristics1 chaps4 x1 xii1 xvi1 passim ,nero1 #ag ,nestorians1 #bi ,neustria1 #acc ,new ,zealanders1 #aeb ,nimroud1 #afh ,nineveh1 #ajd ,normandy1 climate of1 #add ,normans1 #ca1 #fj ,novgorod1 #fj ,numidia1 #id ,nushirwan1 #abh n4 ,oceania1 #df1 #eg1 #ajg1 #aaf1 #afb ,odenathus1 #agg ,oghuzes1 #abh-i ,olympia1 #age ,olympus1 ,mount1 #adb d',orbigny1 #afc n41 #bjb ,orenburg1 #gf ,ortoghrul1 #abi ,osman1 #abi-cj ,osmanlis1 #abi-cj ,ostiaks1 #abg1 #acc ,othomi1 #ahe n4 ,owen1 #aji-aa ,palestine1 climate of1 #ei ,palmyra1 #agg ,panama1 #fa ,paraguay1 #ea-c1 #abe n4 ,parana1 #ec ,paris1 #aj1 #dc1 #fj2 mixture of races in1 #aej ,park1 ,mungo1 #ahj ,parsees1 #bi ,parthenon1 #aic ,pathans1 #gf ,paul1 ,st41 #ag ,pecheray1 #aej ,pelagian1 #aej ,penn1 #ci ,pericles1 #ad1 #id1 #aeg ,permians1 #acc ,persepolis1 #abf1 #agf ,persians1 #h1 #ac1 #bi-cj1 #cc2 relation to ,greeks1 #agd-f2 relation to ,arabs1 #agh-i ,peru1 #ac1 #he ,peruvians1 #hj1 #aae2 civilization1 #afg2 language1 #aib ,phil1 #ajd ,philip of ,macedon1 #id ,philip the ,arabian1 #agg ,phnicians1 #i1 #ce1 #eg1 #gi ,picardy1 #bja ,piedmont1 #hg ,pindar1 #id1 #aeg ,pisans1 #h1 #gi ,plato1 #aeg1 #aff ,pliny1 #aei1 #aff ,plutarch1 #e ,polynesians1 #bg1 #he1 #adg ,pompeius1 #aeh ,pontus1 #g ,postumus1 ,c4 ,junius1 #aei ,prtorian ,guard1 #af ,prakriti1 #hf ,prichard1 #h1 #gc1 chap4 x passim1 #abc1 #abe1 #acg1 #adf ,prometheus1 #adb ,purusha1 #hf ,quaternary type1 #adi ,quichuas1 #he1 #aae ,quito1 #afg ,radack ,islands1 the1 #adc ,ravenna1 #fa ,raynal1 ,abb1 #f ,rechabites1 #abb ,redskins of ,north ,america1 their treatment1 #df2 skull-measurement1 #aaa-b2 exclusiveness1 #agj-a ,regent of ,france 7,anne of ,austria71 #da ,rocky ,mountains1 #ee ,roman ,empire1 fall of1 #b-c1 #cc ,romans1 #h1 #i2 civilization1 #hg1 #ib1 #id-g2 modernity1 #aeh-i2 diffusion of books among1 #aff ,rome1 luxury in1 #h2 religion in1 #ac1 #ag1 #ff2 climate of1 #ei-fj ,rosa1 ,st41 #fh ,roussillon1 #abb ,rubens1 #aac n4 ,rm1 #abi ,russia1 #h1 #aeb ,russians1 #gf de ,sacy1 #ahg ,sakuntala1 #abd ,salsette1 #ajd ,samal1 #adc ,samoyedes1 #bg1 #he1 #abg1 #aca ,san ,domingo1 #dh-ea ,sandwich ,islands1 #df-g ,sanscrit1 #ahh-ia1 #bjc ,saracens1 #aig ,sarah1 #abc ,sassanid1 #agg ,saxons1 #bi ,scandinavians1 #acc1 #bji ,schlotzer1 #acb ,scilly ,isles1 #agc ,scipio1 #ad1 #ce ,scythians1 #abi n41 #acc ,seljukians1 #abi-cj ,seminoles1 #agb ,semites1 #bi1 #aah1 #adf ,semitic languages1 #ahd1 #ahh-i ,seneca1 #afa ,septimius ,severus1 #aa ,shahnameh1 the1 #bji ,sharuz1 #abh ,shelley1 #cg n4 ,shem1 #bi ,siamese1 #afd n4 ,siculi1 #acb ,sicyon1 #age ,sidon1 #eg ,slavs1 #cb1 #gd1 #ib ,socrates1 #ad ,sophocles1 #ad ,spain1 #bj2 ,arabs in1 #bi ,spaniards1 in ,south ,america1 #df1 #eb2 independence of1 #agj ,sparta1 #ei1 #age ,spartacus1 #aei ,spartans1 #i1 #dj1 #gi ,squier1 #ee n4 ,st4 ,bartholomew's day1 #ab ,strafford1 ,earl of1 #da ,suetonius1 #ae n4 ,sufis1 #ahh ,sulla1 #aeh ,sulpicius ,severus1 #aig ,swabia1 #gi ,switzerland1 #abd2 climate of1 #add ,syria1 #gi ,syrians1 #id1 #agb1 #agg-i ,tacitus1 #e1 #ag ,tahitians1 #aed ,talmud1 #aie ,tatars1 #adf ,tchingiz1 #abi n4 ,tenochtitlan1 #ajd ,terah1 #aid ,teresa1 ,st41 #fi ,tertiary type1 #adg ,tertullian1 #aei ,teutates1 #ac ,thebaid1 #fi ,thirty ,tyrants1 #bj ,thucydides1 #f ,thuringia1 #gi ,tiberius1 #fj ,tibetans1 #hj1 #ia1 #ig ,tigris1 #ef ,tihuanaco1 #afg ,tlaxcala1 #aei ,tocqueville1 de1 #gb n4 ,toledo1 #bi ,tonga-,tabu1 #aed ,tonkin1 #afd ,toulouse1 #fj ,touraine1 #ajj n4 ,trajan1 #aa1 #aei ,treves1 #fj1 #aig ,tribunate1 the1 #i ,triptolemus1 #ei ,tungusians1 #aag1 #abg1 #acc ,turanians1 #abh ,turkestan1 #abh ,turkey1 #bi ,turks1 #bi1 #abg-ca ,tylos1 #eg ,tyre1 #ac1 #eg ,ulea1 #adc ,ulfilas1 #aij ,ur1 #aid ,urkan1 #acj ,uruguay1 #ec ,valentia1 #bi ,valerius ,publicola1 #aj ,valmiki1 #aeg ,vaqueiras1 ,raimbaut de1 #aih ,venetians1 #h1 #gi ,venice1 #fj ,venus1 #ajh ,virgil1 #aff ,voltaire1 #e ,vrolik1 #aad-e ,wallachians1 #bi1 #aij ,wanikas1 #abe n4 ,washington1 #ci ,white races1 definition1 #adf2 see also ,europeans ,william ,,iii1 of ,england1 #ba1 #ha ,xerxes1 #agf ,yellow races1 physical and mental characteristics of1 chaps4 x1 xii1 xvi passim2 definition1 #adf2 see also ,mongols ,yemen1 #agh ,yolofs1 #ahj ,yo-kiao-li1 #abe n4 ,yunnan1 #hg ,zama1 battle of1 #ce ,zend1 #bja ,zeno1 #ad ,zenobia1 #agg ,zerubbabel1 #aid ,zingaris1 #abd1 #aie n4 ,zita1 ,st41 #fi ,zuleika1 #abd ,,printed ,,at ,,the ,,ballantyne ,,press ,,london ,,edinburgh ----- ,footnote #a3 ,see my ,introduction to ,count ,gobineau's 8,renaissance0 7,heinemann74 ,footnote #b3 ,this dedication and the following preface apply to the whole work1 of which the present volume contains the first book4 ,the remaining books are occupied by a detailed examination of the civilizations mentioned at the end of this volume1 and it is of these as well as the present book that the author is thinking1 in his preface1 when speaking of his imitators4 ,a few passages in the dedication that relate exclusively to these books have been omitted4--,tr4 ,footnote #c3 ,amde ,thierry1 ,la ,gaule sous l'administration romaine1 vol4 i1 p4 #bdd4 ,footnote #d3 ,by ,c4 ,f4 ,weber1 ,lucani ,pharsalia 7,leipzig1 #ahbh71 vol4 i1 pp4 #abb-c1 note4 ,footnote #e3 ,prichard1 8,natural ,history of ,man40 ,dr4 ,martius is still more explicit4 ,cf4 ,martius and ,spix1 ,reise in ,brasilien1 vol4 i1 pp4 #cgi-hj4 ,footnote #f3 ,balzac1 ,lettre madame la duchesse de ,montausier4 ,footnote #g3 ,the power of the ,tribunate was revived after ,appius's decemvirate in #dej ,b4,c41 but the office had been founded more than forty years before4 ,on the other hand1 consular tribunes were first elected after #dej 7in #dde72 but the consular tribunate could hardly be described as a 8great revolution40 ,the author may be confusing the two tribunates4--,tr4 ,footnote #h3 ,cp4 ,homer1 8,odyssey10 ,,xv1 #dae sqq4 ,footnote #i3 ,augustin ,thierry1 ,rcits des temps mrovingiens2 see especially the story of ,mummolus4 ,footnote #aj3 ,csar1 the democrat and sceptic1 knew how to hold language contrary to his opinions when it was necessary4 ,his funeral oration on his aunt is very curious3 8,on the mother's side10 he said1 8,julia was descended from kings2 on her father's1 from the immortal gods3 for the ,marcian ,reges1 whose name her mother bore1 were sprung from ,ancus ,marcius1 while ,venus is the ancestress of the ,julii1 the clan to which belongs the family of the ,csars4 ,thus in our blood is mingled at the same time the sanctity of kings1 who are the mightiest of men1 and the awful majesty of the gods1 who hold kings themselves in their power0 7,suetonius1 8,julius10 p4 #f74 ,nothing could be more monarchical2 and also1 for an atheist1 nothing could be more religious4 ,footnote #aa3 ,acts xxvi1 #bd1 #bh1 #ca4 ,footnote #ab3 ,the reader will understand that ,i am not speaking of the political existence of a centre of sovereignty1 but of the life of a whole society1 or the span of a whole civilization4 ,the distinction drawn at the beginning of chap4 ii must be applied here4 ,footnote #ac3 ,the celebrated physiologist 7#agga-ahjb71 and author of ,l',anatomie gnrale4--,tr4 ,footnote #ad3 ,this attachment of the ,arab tribes to their racial unity shows itself sometimes in a very curious manner4 ,a traveller 7,m4 ,fulgence ,fresnel1 ,i think7 says that at ,djiddah1 where morals are very lax1 the same ,bedouin girl who will sell her favours for the smallest piece of money would think herself dishonoured if she contracted a legal marriage with the ,turk or ,european to whom she contemptuously lends herself4 ,footnote #ae3 ,the man ,of virtuous soul commands not1 nor obeys2 ,power1 like a desolating pestilence1 ,pollutes whate'er it touches2 and obedience1 ,bane of all genius1 virtue1 freedom1 truth1 ,makes slaves of men1 and of the human frame ,a mechanized automaton4 ,,shelley1 8,queen ,mab40 ,footnote #af3 ,anne of ,austria1 mother of ,louis ,,xiv4--,tr4 ,footnote #ag3 ,the ,comte de ,saint-,priest1 in an excellent article in the ,revue des ,deux ,mondes1 has rightly shown that the party crushed by ,cardinal ,richelieu had nothing in common with feudalism or the great aristocratic methods of government4 ,montmorency1 ,cinq-,mars1 and ,marillac tried to overthrow the ,state merely in order to obtain favour and office for themselves4 ,the great ,cardinal was quite innocent of the 8murder of the ,french nobility10 with which he has been so often reproached4 ,footnote #ah3 ,a4 von ,humboldt1 ,examen critique de l'histoire de la gographie du nouveau continent1 vol4 ii1 pp4 #abi-cj4 ,footnote #ai3 ,see the articles of ,gustave d',alaux in the ,revue des deux ,mondes4 ,footnote #bj3 ,the colony of ,san ,domingo1 before its emancipation1 was one of the places where the luxury and refinement of wealth had reached its highest point4 ,it was1 to a superior degree1 what ,havana has become through its commercial activity4 ,the slaves are now free and have set their own house in order4 ,this is the result6 ,footnote #ba3 ,consult1 on this subject1 ,prichard1 d',orbigny1 ,a4 von ,humboldt1 c4 ,footnote #bb3 ,see above1 p4 #ch4 ,footnote #bc3 ,compare ,carus1 ber ungleiche ,befhigung der verschiedenen ,menschheitstmme fr hhere geistige ,entwickelung 7,leipzig1 #ahdi71 p4 #if et passim4 ,footnote #bd3 ,prichard1 8,natural ,history of ,man10 sec4 #cg4 ,see also ,squier1 8,observations on the ,aboriginal ,monuments of the ,mississippi ,valley40 ,footnote #be3 ,the special construction of these tumuli and the numerous instruments and utensils they contain are occupying the attention of many eminent ,american antiquaries4 ,it is impossible to doubt the great age of these monuments4 ,squier is perfectly right in finding a proof of this in the mere fact that the skeletons discovered in the tumuli fall to pieces when brought into the slightest contact with the air1 although the conditions for their preservation are excellent1 so far as the quality of the soil is concerned4 ,on the other hand1 the bodies which lay buried under the cromlechs of ,brittany1 and which are at least #ahjj years old1 are perfectly firm4 ,hence we may easily imagine that there is no relation between these ancient inhabitants of the land and the tribes of the present day--the ,lenni-,lenapes and others4 ,i must not end this note without praising the industry and resource shown by ,american scholars in the study of the antiquities of their continent4 ,finding their labours greatly hindered by the extreme brittleness of the skulls they had exhumed1 they discovered1 after many abortive attempts1 a way of pouring a preparation of bitumen into the bodies1 which solidifies at once and keeps the bones from crumbling4 ,this delicate process1 which requires infinite care and quickness1 seems1 as a rule1 to be entirely successful4 ,footnote #bf3 ,ancient ,india required a vast amount of clearing on the part of the first white settlers4 ,see ,lassen1 ,indische ,altertumskunde1 vol4 i4 ,as to ,egypt1 compare ,bunsen1 gyptens ,stelle in der ,weltgeschichte1 as to the fertilization of the ,fayoum1 a vast work executed by the early kings4 ,footnote #bg3 8,they say that it spontaneously produces wheat1 barley1 beans1 and sesame1 and all the edible plants that grow in the plains0 7,syncellus74 ,footnote #bh3 ,salvador1 ,histoire des ,juifs4 ,footnote #bi3 ,m4 ,saint-,marc ,girardin1 in the ,revue des ,deux ,mondes4 ,footnote #cj3 ,we may cite1 on the subject treated in this chapter1 the opinion of a learned historian1 though it is rather truculent in tone3 8,a large number of writers are convinced that the country makes the people2 that the ,bavarians or the ,saxons were predestined by the nature of the soil to become what they are to-day2 that ,protestantism does not suit the ,south1 nor ,catholicism the ,north1 and so on4 ,some of the people who interpret history in the light of their meagre knowledge1 narrow sympathies1 and limited intelligence would like to show that the nation of which we are speaking 7the ,jews7 possessed such and such qualities--whether these gentlemen understand the nature of the qualities or not--merely from having lived in ,palestine instead of ,india or ,greece4 ,but if these great scholars1 who are so clever in proving everything1 would condescend to reflect that the soil of the ,holy ,land has contained in its limited area very different peoples1 with different ideas and religions1 and that between these various peoples and their successors at the present day there have been infinite degrees of diversity1 although the actual country has remained the same--they would then see how little influence is exerted by material conditions on a nation's character and civilization40 ,ewald1 ,geschichte des ,volkes ,israel1 vol4 i1 p4 #bei4 ,footnote #ca3 ,acts ii1 #d1 #h1 #i-aa4 ,footnote #cb3 ,apocryphal ,gospels3 8,the ,story of ,joseph the ,carpenter10 chap4 i4 ,footnote #cc3 ,prichard1 8,natural ,history of ,man10 sec4 #da4 ,footnote #cd3 ,ibid4 ,footnote #ce3 8,synopsis of the ,indian ,tribes of ,north ,america40 ,footnote #cf3 ,i have discussed ,prichard's facts without questioning their value4 ,i might1 however1 have simply denied them1 and should have had on my side the weighty authority of ,a4 de ,tocqueville1 who in his great work on 8,democracy in ,america0 refers to the ,cherokees in these words3 8,the presence of half-breeds has favoured the very rapid development of ,european habits among the ,indians4 ,the half-breed shares the enlightenment of his father without entirely giving up the savage customs of his mother's race4 ,he is thus a natural link between civilization and barbarism4 ,wherever half-breeds exist and multiply we see the savages gradually changing their customs and social conditions0 78,democracy in ,america10 vol4 iii74 ,de ,tocqueville ends by prophesying that although the ,cherokees and the ,creeks are half-breeds and not natives1 as ,prichard says1 they will nevertheless disappear in a short time through the encroachment of the white race4 ,footnote #cg3 ,in discussing the list of remarkable negroes which is given in the first instance by ,blumenbach and could easily be supplemented1 ,carus well says that among the black races there has never been any politics or literature or any developed ideas of art1 and that when any individual negroes have distinguished themselves it has always been the result of white influence4 ,there is not a single man among them to be compared1 ,i will not say to one of our men of genius1 but to the heroes of the yellow races--for example1 ,confucius4 7,carus1 op4 cit47 ,footnote #ch3 ,w4 von ,humboldt1 ber die ,kawi-sprache auf der ,insel ,java1 ,introduction1 vol4 i1 p4 #cg4 ,footnote #ci3 ,i4e4 the world in its second stage of improvement4 ,footnote #dj3 ,klemm 7,allgemeine ,kulturgeschichte der ,menschheit7 divides the races of men into 8active0 and 8passive40 ,i do not know his book1 and so cannot tell if his idea agrees with my own4 ,but it is natural that if we follow the same path we should light upon the same truth4 ,footnote #da3 ,it is also in connexion with these that we find the main cause of the false judgments passed on foreign peoples4 ,because the externals of their civilization are unlike the corresponding parts of our own1 we are often apt to infer hastily that they are either barbarians or of less worth than ourselves4 ,nothing could be more superficial1 and so more doubtful1 than a conclusion drawn from such premises4 ,footnote #db3 8,it is still only in ,china that a poor student can offer himself for the ,imperial examination and come out a great man4 ,this is a splendid feature of the social organization of the ,chinese1 and their theory is certainly better than any other4 ,unfortunately1 its application is far from perfect4 ,i am not here referring to the errors of judgment and corruption on the part of the examiners1 or even to the sale of literary degrees1 an expedient to which the ,government is sometimes driven in times of financial stress44440 7,f4 ,j4 ,mohl1 8,annual ,report of the ,socit ,asiatique10 #ahdf74 ,footnote #dc3 ,john ,f4 ,davis1 8,the ,chinese0 7,london1 #ahdj73 8,three or four volumes of any ordinary work of the octavo size and shape may be had for a sum equivalent to two shillings4 ,a ,canton bookseller's manuscript catalogue marked the price of the four books of ,confucius1 including the commentary1 at a price rather under half-a-crown4 ,the cheapness of their common literature is occasioned partly by the mode of printing1 but partly also by the low price of paper40 ,footnote #dd3 8,force them to enter40 ,footnote #de3 ,a nurse of ,touraine put a bird into the hands of the three-year-old boy of whom she was in charge1 and encouraged him to pull out its wings and feathers4 ,when the parents blamed her for teaching such wickedness1 she replied1 8,it is to make him proud40 ,this answer1 given in #ahdg1 goes back directly to the educational maxims in vogue at the time of ,vercingetorix4 ,footnote #df3 ,a very few years ago there was a question of electing a churchwarden in a little obscure parish of ,french ,brittany1 that part of the old province which the true ,bretons call the 8,welsh10 or 8foreign10 country4 ,the church council1 composed of peasants1 deliberated for two days without being able to make up their minds2 for the candidate before them1 though rich and well esteemed as a good man and a good ,christian1 was a 8foreigner40 ,the council would not move from its opinion1 although the 8foreigner's0 father1 as well as himself1 had been born in the district2 it was still remembered that his grandfather1 who had been dead for many years and had never known any member of the council1 was an immigrant from another part of the country4 ,the daughter of a peasant-proprietor makes a msalliance if she marries a tailor or a miller or even a farmer1 if he works for wages4 ,it does not matter whether the husband is richer than she is2 her crime is often punished1 just the same1 by a father's curse4 ,is not this case exactly like that of the churchwarden8 ,footnote #dg3 ,this chapter was1 of course1 written before the appearance of the 8,origin of ,species0 or the 8,descent of ,man02 see author's preface4--,tr4 ,footnote #dh3 ,these views are quoted by ,flourens 7,eloge de ,blumenbach1 ,mmoire de l',acadmie des ,sciences71 who himself dissents from them4 ,footnote #di3 ,this and the other illustrations in this chapter are taken from ,prichard1 8,natural ,history of ,man40 ,footnote #ej3 ,meiners was so struck with the repulsive appearance of the greater part of humanity that he imagined a very simple system of classification1 containing only two categories--the beautiful1 namely the white race1 and the ugly1 which includes all the others 7,grundriss der ,geschichte der ,menschheit74 ,the reader will see that ,i have not thought it necessary to go through all the ethnological theories4 ,i only mention the most important4 ,footnote #ea3 ,prichard1 op4 cit4 7#bnd edition1 #ahde71 p4 #aab4 ,footnote #eb3 ,prichard1 p4 #aaf4 ,footnote #ec3 ,ibid41 pp4 #aag-ah4 ,footnote #ed3 ,carus1 op4 cit41 from which the following details are taken4 ,footnote #ee3 ,there are some apparently trivial differences which are1 however1 very characteristic4 ,a certain fullness at the side of the lower lip1 that we see among ,germans and ,english1 is an example4 ,this mark of ,germanic origin may also be found in some faces of the ,flemish ,school1 in the ,rubens ,madonna at ,dresden1 in the ,satyrs and ,nymphs in the same collection1 in a ,lute-player of ,mieris1 c4 ,no craniological method can take account of such details1 though they have a certain importance1 in view of the mixed character of our races4 ,footnote #ef3 ,job ,ludolf1 whose data on this subject were necessarily very incomplete and inferior to those we have now1 is none the less opposed to the opinion accepted by ,prichard4 ,his remarks on the black race are striking and unanswerable1 and ,i cannot resist the pleasure of quoting them3 8,it is not my purpose to speak here about the blackness of the ,ethiop2 most people may1 if they will1 attribute it to the heat of the sun and the torrid zone4 ,yet even within the sun's equatorial path there are peoples who1 if not white1 are at least not quite black4 ,many who live outside either tropic are further from the ,equator than the ,persians or ,syrians--for instance1 the inhabitants of the ,cape of ,good ,hope1 who1 however1 are absolutely black4 ,if you say that blackness belongs solely to ,africa and the sons of ,ham1 you must still allow that the ,malabars and the ,cingalese and other even more remote peoples of ,asia are equally black4 ,if you regard the climate and soil as the reason1 then why do not white men become black when they settle down in these regions8 ,if you take refuge in #8hidden qualities1' you would do better to confess your ignorance at once0 7,jobus ,ludolfus1 ,commentarium ad ,historiam thiopicam74 ,i will add a short and conclusive passage of ,mr4 ,pickering4 ,he speaks of the regions inhabited by the black race in these words3 8,excluding the northern and southern extremes1 with the tableland of ,abyssinia1 it holds all the more temperate and fertile parts of the ,continent40 ,thus it is just where we find most of the pure negroes that it is least hot 444 7,pickering1 8,the ,races of ,man and their ,geographical ,distribution40 ,the essay is to be found in the 8,records of the ,united ,states' ,exploring ,expedition during the ,years #ahch-db10 vol4 ix74 ,footnote #eg3 ,prichard1 p4 #abd4 ,footnote #eh3 ,neither the ,swiss nor the ,tyrolese1 nor the ,highlanders of ,scotland1 nor the ,balkan ,slavs1 nor the ,himalaya tribes have the same hideous appearance as the ,quichuas4 ,footnote #ei3 ,annales du ,musum1 vol4 xi1 p4 #deh4 ,footnote #fj3 ,the unitarians are continually bringing forward comparisons between man and the animals in support of their theory2 ,i have just been using such a line of argument myself4 ,it only applies1 however1 within limits1 and ,i could not honestly avail myself of it in speaking of the modification of species by climate4 ,in this respect the difference between man and the animals is radical and 7one might almost say7 specific4 ,there is a geography of animals1 as there is of plants2 but there is no geography of man4 ,it is only in certain latitudes that certain vegetables1 mammals1 reptiles1 fishes1 and molluscs can exist2 man1 in all his varieties1 can live equally well everywhere4 ,in the case of the animals this fully explains a vast number of differences in organization2 and ,i can easily believe that the species that cannot cross a certain meridian or rise to a certain height above sea-level without dying are very dependent upon the influence of climate and quick to betray its effects in their forms and instincts4 ,it is just1 however1 because man is absolutely free from such bondage that ,i refuse to be always comparing his position1 in face of the forces of nature1 with that of the animals4 ,footnote #fa3 ,barrow is the author of this theory1 which he bases on certain points of resemblance in the shape of the head and the yellowish colour of the skin in the natives of the ,cape of ,good ,hope4 ,a traveller1 whose name ,i forget1 has even brought additional evidence by observing that the ,hottentots usually wear a head-dress like the conical hat of the ,chinese4 ,footnote #fb3 ,mller1 ,handbuch der ,physiologie des ,menschen1 vol4 ii1 p4 #fci4 ,footnote #fc3 ,prichard1 8,natural ,history of ,man10 #bnd edition1 pp4 #dhd et sqq4 ,footnote #fd3 ,genesis xxi1 #e4 ,footnote #fe3 ,we must make an exception in the case of ,shakespeare1 who is painting a picture of ,italy4 ,thus in ,romeo and ,juliet ,capulet says3 8,my child is yet a stranger in the world1 ,she hath not seen the change of fourteen years2 ,let two more summers wither in their pride ,ere we may think her ripe to be a bride40 ,to which ,paris answers3 8,younger than she are happy mothers made40 ,footnote #ff3 ,according to ,krapff1 a ,protestant missionary in ,east ,africa1 the ,wanikas marry at twelve1 boys and girls alike 7,zeitschrift der ,deutschen ,morgenlndischen ,gesellschaft1 vol4 iii1 p4 #cag74 ,in ,paraguay the ,jesuits introduced the custom1 which still holds among their disciples1 of marrying the boys at thirteen and the girls at ten4 ,widows of eleven and twelve are to be seen in this country 7,a4 d',orbigny1 ,l',homme amricain1 vol4 i1 p4 #dj74 ,in ,south ,brazil the women marry at ten or eleven4 ,menstruation both appears and ceases at an early age 7,martius and ,spix1 ,reise in ,brasilien vol4 i1 p4 #chb74 ,such quotations might be infinitely extended2 ,i will only cite one more4 ,in the novel of ,yo-kiao-,li the ,chinese heroine is sixteen years old1 and her father is in despair that at such an age she is not yet married6 ,footnote #fg3 ,prichard1 p4 #dhf4 ,footnote #fh3 ,it has been since discovered that this fairness1 in certain ,jews1 is due to a mixture of ,tartar blood2 in the #ith century a tribe of ,chasars went over to ,judaism and intermarried with the ,german-,polish ,jews 7,kutschera1 ,die ,chasaren74--,tr4 ,footnote #fi3 ,edinburgh ,review1 8,ethnology or the ,science of ,races10 ,october #ahdh1 pp4 #ddd-h3 8,there is probably no evidence of original diversity of race which is so generally relied upon as that derived from the colour of the skin and the character of the hair 444 but it will not1 we think1 stand the test of a serious examination44440 ,footnote #gj3 ,ibid41 p4 #dec3 8,the ,cingalese are described by ,dr4 ,davy as varying in colour from light brown to black4 ,the prevalent hue of their hair and eyes is black1 but hazel eyes and brown hair are not very uncommon2 grey eyes and red hair are occasionally seen1 though rarely1 and sometimes the light blue or red eye and flaxen hair of the ,albino40 ,footnote #ga3 ,edinburgh ,review1 8,the ,samoyedes1 ,tungusians1 and others living on the borders of the ,icy ,sea have a dirty brown or swarthy complexion40 ,footnote #gb3 ,ibid41 p4 #dci4 ,footnote #gc3 ,ibid41 p4 #dci 7summarized74 ,footnote #gd3 ,hammer1 ,geschichte des ,osmanischen ,reichs1 vol4 i1 p4 #b4 ,footnote #ge3 ,ritter1 ,erdkunde1 ,asien1 vol4 i1 pp4 #dcc1 #aaae1 c42 ,tassen1 ,zeitschrift fr die ,kunde des ,morgenlandes1 vol4 ii1 p4 #fe2 ,benfey1 ,ersch and ,gruber's ,encyclopdie1 ,indien1 p4 #ab4 ,a4 von ,humboldt calls this fact one of the most important discoveries of our time 7,asie centrale1 vol4 ii1 p4 #fci74 ,from the point of view of historical science this is absolutely true4 ,footnote #gf3 ,nushirwan1 who reigned in the first half of the sixth century ,a4,d41 married ,sharuz1 daughter of the ,turkish ,khan4 ,she was the most beautiful woman of her time 7,haneberg1 ,zeitschrift fr die ,kunde des ,morgenlandes1 vol4 i1 p4 #ahg74 ,the ,shahnameh gives many facts of the same kind4 ,footnote #gg3 ,just as the ,scythians1 a ,mongolian race1 had adopted an ,aryan tongue1 so there would be nothing surprising in the view that the ,oghuzes were an ,aryan race1 although they spoke a ,finnish dialect4 ,this theory is curiously supported by a nave phrase of the traveller ,rubruquis1 who was sent by ,st4 ,louis to the ruler of the ,mongols4 8,i was struck10 says the good monk1 8by the likeness borne by this prince to the late ,m4 ,jean de ,beaumont1 who was equally ruddy and fresh-looking40 ,alexander von ,humboldt1 interested1 as he well might be1 by such a remark1 adds with no less good sense1 8,this point of physiognomy is especially worth noting if we remember that the family of ,tchingiz was probably ,turkish1 and not ,mongolian40 ,he confirms his conclusion by adding that 8the absence of ,mongolian characteristics strikes us also in the portraits which we have of the descendants of ,baber1 the rulers of ,india0 7,asie centrale1 vol4 i1 p4 #bdh and note74 ,footnote #gh3 ,hammer1 op4 cit41 vol4 i1 p4 #ddh3 8,the battle against the ,hungarians was hotly contested and the booty considerable4 ,so many boys and girls were seized that the most beautiful female slave was exchanged for a jackboot1 and ,ashik-,pacha-,zadeh1 the historian1 who himself took part in the battle and the plunder1 could not sell five boy-slaves at ,skopi for more than #ejj piastres40 ,footnote #gi3 8,ethnology10 c41 p4 #dci3 8,the ,hungarian nobility 444 is proved by historical and philological evidence to have been a branch of the great ,northern ,asiatic stock1 closely allied in blood to the stupid and feeble ,ostiaks and the untamable ,laplanders40 ,footnote #hj3 ,essai historique sur l'origine des ,hongrois 7,paris1 #ahdd74 ,footnote #ha3 ,the current opinions about the peoples of ,central ,asia will1 it seems1 have to be greatly modified4 ,it can no longer be denied that the blood of the yellow races has been crossed more or less considerably by a white strain4 ,this fact was not suspected before1 but it throws a doubt on all the ancient notions on the subject1 which must now be revised in the light of it4 ,alexander von ,humboldt makes a very important observation with regard to the ,kirghiz-,kasaks1 who are mentioned by ,menander of ,byzantium and ,constantine ,porphyrogenetes4 ,he rightly shows that when the former speaks of a ,kirghiz 77 concubine given by the ,turkish ,shagan ,dithubul to ,zemarch1 the envoy of the ,emperor ,justin ,,ii1 in #efi1 he is referring to a girl of mixed blood4 ,she corresponds exactly to the beautiful ,turkish girls who are so praised by the ,persians1 and who were as little ,mongolian in type as this ,kirghiz 7,asie centrale1 vol4 i1 p4 #bcg1 c42 vol4 ii1 pp4 #acj-ca74 ,footnote #hb3 ,schaffarik1 ,slavische ,altertmer1 vol4 i1 p4 #bgi et pass4 ,footnote #hc3 ,aug4 ,thierry1 ,histoire de la ,conqute d',angleterre1 vol4 i1 p4 #aee4 ,footnote #hd3 ,lyell1 8,principles of ,geology10 vol4 i1 p4 #agh4 ,footnote #he3 ,link1 ,die ,urwelt und das ,altertum1 vol4 i1 p4 #hd4 ,footnote #hf3 ,link1 op4 cit41 vol4 i1 p4 #ia4 ,footnote #hg3 ,cuvier1 op4 cit4 ,compare also1 on this point1 the opinion of ,alexander von ,humboldt3 8,in the epochs preceding the existence of the human race the action of the forces in the interior of the globe must1 as the earth's crust increased in thickness1 have modified the temperature of the air and made the whole earth habitable by the products which we now regard as exclusively tropical4 ,afterwards the spatial relation of our planet to the central body 7the sun7 began1 by means of radiation and cooling down1 to be almost the sole agent in determining the climate at different latitudes4 ,it was also in these primitive times that the elastic fluids1 or volcanic forces1 inside the earth1 more powerful than they are to-day1 made their way through the oxidized and imperfectly solidified crust of our planet0 7,asie centrale1 vol4 i1 p4 #dg74 ,footnote #hh3 ,second edition1 pp4 #ib-d4 ,the man was born in #agbg4 ,footnote #hi3 ,see ,genesis ii1 #h1 #aj1 #ae4 ,footnote #ij3 ,lyell1 8,principles of ,geology10 vol4 ii1 p4 #aai4 ,footnote #ia3 ,alexander von ,humboldt does not think that this hypothesis can apply to the migration of plants4 8,what we know10 he says1 8of the deleterious action exerted by sea-water1 during a voyage of #ejj or #fjj leagues1 over the reproductive power of most grains1 does not favour the theory of the migration of vegetables by means of ocean currents4 ,such a theory is too general and comprehensive0 7,examen critique de l'histoire de la gographie du nouveau continent1 vol4 ii1 p4 #gh74 ,footnote #ib3 ,alexander von ,humboldt gives the law determining these facts in the following passage 7,asie centrale1 vol4 iii1 p4 #bc73 8,the foundation of the science of climatology is the accurate knowledge of the inequalities of a continent's surface 7hypsometry74 ,without this knowledge we are apt to attribute to elevation what is really the effect of other causes1 acting1 in low-lying regions1 on a surface of which the curve is continuous with that of the sea1 along the isothermic lines 7i4e4 lines along which the temperature is the same740 ,by calling attention to the multiplicity of influences acting on the temperature of any given geographical point1 ,von ,humboldt shows how very different conditions of climate may exist in places that are quite near each other1 independently of their height above sea-level4 ,thus in the north-east of ,ireland1 on the ,glenarn coast1 there is a region1 on the same parallel of latitude as ,knigsberg in ,prussia1 which produces myrtles growing in the open air quite as vigorously as in ,portugal2 this region is in striking contrast with those round it4 8,there are hardly any frosts in winter1 and the heat in summer is not enough to ripen the grapes4444 ,the pools and small lakes of the ,faroe ,islands are not frozen over during the winter1 in spite of the latitude 7#fb74444 ,in ,england1 on the ,devonshire coast1 the myrtle1 the camelia iaponica1 the fuchsia coccinea1 and the ,boddleya globosa flourish in the open1 unsheltered1 throughout the winter4444 ,at ,salcombe the winters are so mild that orange-trees have been seen1 with fruit on them1 sheltered by a wall and protected merely by screens0 7pp4 #adg-dh74 ,footnote #ic3 ,i will explain in due course the reasons why ,i do not include the ,american ,indian as a pure and primitive type4 ,i have already given indications of my view on p4 #aab4 ,here ,i merely subscribe to the opinion of ,flourens1 who also recognizes only three great subdivisions of the species--those of ,europe1 ,asia1 and ,africa4 ,the names call for criticism but the divisions are in the main correct4 ,footnote #id3 ,carus gives his powerful support to the law ,i have laid down1 namely that the civilizing races are especially prone to mix their blood4 ,he points out the immense variety of elements composing the perfected human organism1 as against the simplicity of the infinitesimal beings on the lowest step in the scale of creation4 ,he deduces the following axiom3 8,whenever there is an extreme likeness between the elements of an organic whole1 its state cannot be regarded as the expression of a complete and final development1 but is merely primitive and elementary0 7ber die ungleiche ,befhigkeit der verschiedenen ,menschheitstmme fr hhere geistige ,entwickelung1 p4 #d74 ,in another place he says3 8,the greatest possible diversity 7i4e4 inequality7 of the parts1 together with the most complete unity of the whole1 is clearly1 in every sphere1 the standard of the highest perfection of an organism40 ,in the political world this is the state of a society where the governing classes are racially quite distinct from the masses1 while being themselves carefully organised into a strict hierarchy4 ,footnote #ie3 ,flourens 7,eloge de ,blumenbach1 p4 xi7 describes the ,polynesian race as 8a mixture of two others1 the ,caucasian and the ,mongolian40 ,caucasian is probably a mere slip2 he certainly meant black4 ,footnote #if3 ,the physiological characteristics of the ancestors are reproduced in their descendants according to fixed rules4 ,thus we see in ,south ,america that though the children of a white man and a negress may have straight soft hair1 yet the crisp woolly hair invariably appears in the second generation 7,a4 d',orbigny1 l',homme amricain1 vol4 i1 p4 #adc74 ,footnote #ig3 ,it may be remarked that the happiest blend1 from the point of view of beauty1 is that made by the marriage of white and black4 ,we need only put the striking charm of many mulatto1 ,creole1 and quadroon women by the side of such mixtures of yellow and white as the ,russians and ,hungarians4 ,the comparison is not to the advantage of the latter4 ,it is no less certain that a beautiful ,rajput is more ideally beautiful than the most perfect ,slav4 ,footnote #ih3 ,see 7among other authorities71 for the ,american aborigine1 ,martius and ,spix1 ,reise in ,brasilien1 vol4 i1 p4 #bei2 for the negroes1 ,pruner1 ,der ,neger1 eine aphoristische ,skizze aus der medizinischen ,topographie von ,cairo1 in the ,zeitschrift der ,deutschen morgenlndischen ,gesellschaft1 vol4 i1 p4 #aca2 for the muscular superiority of the white race over all the others1 ,carus1 op4 cit41 p4 #hd4 ,footnote #ii3 ,amde ,thierry1 ,histoire de la ,gaule sous l'administration romaine1 vol4 i1 p4 #bda4 ,footnote #ajj3 ,one is sometimes led to consider the government of the ,united ,states of ,america as an original creation1 peculiar to our time2 its most remarkable feature is taken to be the small amount of opportunity left for ,government initiative or even interference4 ,yet if we cast our eyes over the early years of all the ,states founded by the white race1 we shall find exactly the same phenomenon4 8,self-government0 is no more triumphant in ,new ,york to-day1 than it was in ,paris at the time of the ,franks4 ,it is true that the ,indians are treated far less humanely by the ,americans than the ,gallo-,romans were by the nobles of ,chlodwig4 ,but we must remember that the racial difference between the enlightened ,republicans of the ,new ,world and their victims is far greater than that between the ,germanic conqueror and those he conquered4 ,in fact1 all ,aryan societies began by exaggerating their independence as against the law and the magistrates4 ,the power of political invention possessed by the world cannot1 ,i think1 travel outside the boundaries traced by two particular peoples1 one of them living in the north-east of ,europe1 the other on the banks of the ,nile1 in the extreme south of ,egypt4 ,the ,government of the first of these peoples 7in ,bolgari1 near ,kazan7 was accustomed to 8order men of intelligence to be hanged0 as a preventive measure4 ,we owe our knowledge of this interesting fact to the ,arabian traveller ,ibn ,foszlan 7,a4 von ,humboldt1 ,asie centrale1 vol4 i1 p4 #did74 ,in the other nation1 living at ,fazoql1 whenever the king did not give satisfaction1 his relations and ministers came and told him so4 ,they informed him that since he no longer pleased 8the men1 women1 children1 oxen1 asses10 c41 the best thing he could do was to die2 they then proceeded to help him to his death as speedily as possible 7,lepsius1 ,briefe aus gypten1 thiopien1 und der ,halbinsel des ,sinai2 ,berlin1 #aheb74 ,footnote #aja3 ,amde ,thierry1 op4 cit41 vol4 i1 p4 #bda4 ,footnote #ajb3 ,martius and ,spix1 ,reise in ,brasilien1 vol4 iii1 p4 #iej1 c4 ,footnote #ajc3 ,in many tribes of ,oceania the institution of marriage is conceived as follows3--,a man sees a maiden1 who1 he thinks1 will suit him4 ,he obtains her from her father1 by means of a few presents1 among which a bottle of brandy1 if he has been able to get one1 holds the most distinguished place4 ,then the young suitor proceeds to conceal himself in a thicket1 or behind a rock4 ,the maiden passes by1 thinking no harm4 ,he knocks her down with a blow of his stick1 beats her until she becomes unconscious1 and carries her lovingly to his house1 bathed in her blood4 ,the formalities have been complied with1 and the legal union is accomplished4 ,footnote #ajd3 ,d',orbigny tells how ,indian mothers love their children to distraction1 and take such care of them as to be really their slaves4 ,if however the child annoys the mother at any time1 then she drowns him or crushes him to death1 or abandons him in the forest1 without any regret4 ,i know no other example of such an extraordinary change 7,d',orbigny1 ,l',homme amricain1 vol4 ii1 p4 #bcb74 ,footnote #aje3 8,the native ,indian trade in books is very active1 and many of the works produced are never seen in the libraries of ,europeans1 even in ,india4 ,sprenger says1 in a letter1 that in ,lucknow alone there are thirteen lithographic establishments occupied purely in printing school-books1 and he gives a considerable list of works of which probably not one has reached ,europe4 ,the same is the case at ,delhi1 ,agra1 ,cawnpore1 ,allahabad1 and other towns0 7,mohl1 ,rapport annuel la ,socit asiatique1 #ahea1 p4 #ib74 ,footnote #ajf3 8,the ,siamese are the most shameless people in the world4 ,they are at the lowest point of ,indo-,chinese civilization2 and yet they can all read and write0 7,ritter1 ,erdkunde1 ,asien1 vol4 iii1 p4 #aaeb74 ,footnote #ajg3 ,prichard1 8,natural ,history of ,man10 sec4 #da4 ,footnote #ajh3 ,king of ,palmyra in ,syria1 and husband of ,zenobia4 ,he was recognized by the ,emperor ,gallienus as co-regent of the ,east in #bfg1 and was murdered in the same year4--,tr4 ,footnote #aji3 8,the impulse towards this science given them by their kinship with the ,grco-,syrians made them capable of really absorbing the ,greek language and spirit2 for the ,arabs preferred to confine themselves to the purely scientific results of ,greek speculation0 7,w4 von ,humboldt1 ber die ,kawi-,sprache1 ,introduction1 p4 cclxiii74 ,footnote #aaj3 ,the severest judgment on the negro that has perhaps been passed up to now comes from one of the pioneers of the doctrine of equality4 ,franklin defines the negro as 8an animal who eats as much1 and works as little1 as possible40 ,footnote #aaa3 ,i have no hesitation in regarding the exaggerated development of instinct among savage races as a specific mark of intellectual inferiority4 ,the sharpening of certain senses can only be gained by the deterioration of the mental facilities4 ,on this point1 compare what ,lesson says of the ,papuans1 in a paper printed in the ,annales des sciences naturelles1 vol4 x4 ,footnote #aab3 ,see p4 #aci4 ,footnote #aac3 ,w4 von ,humboldt1 in one of the most brilliant of his minor works1 has admirably expressed this fact1 in its essentials4 8,in language10 he says1 8the work of time is helped everywhere by national idiosyncrasies4 ,the characteristic features in the idioms of the warrior hordes of ,america and ,northern ,asia were not necessarily those of the primitive races of ,india and ,greece4 ,it is not possible to trace a perfectly equal1 and as it were natural1 development of any language1 whether it was spoken by one nation or many0 7,w4 von ,humboldt1 ber das ,entstehen der grammatischen ,formen1 und ihren ,einfluss auf die ,ideenentwickelung74 ,footnote #aad3 ,w4 von ,humboldt1 ber die ,kawi-,sprache1 ,introduction4 ,footnote #aae3 ,i am inclined to believe that the monosyllabic quality of ,chinese is not really a specific mark of the language at all2 and though a striking characteristic1 it does not seem to be an essential one4 ,if it were1 ,chinese would be an 8isolating0 language1 connected with others having the same structure4 ,we know that this is not so4 ,chinese belongs to the ,tatar or ,finnish system1 of which some branches are polysyllabic4 ,on the other hand1 we find monosyllabic languages among groups with quite a different origin4 ,i do not lay any stress on the example of ,othomi1 a ,mexican dialect which1 according to du ,ponceau1 has the monosyllabic quality of ,chinese1 and yet in other respects belongs to the ,american family among which it is found1 as ,chinese does to the ,tatar group 7see ,morton1 8,an ,inquiry into the ,distinctive ,characteristics of the aboriginal race of ,america10 ,philadelphia1 #ahdd74 ,my reason for neglecting this apparently important example is that these ,american languages may one day be recognized as forming merely a vast branch of the ,tatar family2 and thus any conclusion ,i might draw from them would simply go to confirm what ,i have said as to the relation of ,chinese to the surrounding dialects1 a relation which is in no way disproved by the peculiar character of ,chinese itself4 ,i find therefore a more conclusive instance in ,coptic1 which will not easily be shown to have any relation to ,chinese4 ,but here also every syllable is a root2 and the simple affixes that modify the root are so independent that even the determining particle that marks the time of the verb does not always remain joined to the word4 ,thus hon means 8to command02 a-hon1 8he commanded02 but a ,moyses hon1 8,moses commanded0 7see ,e4 ,meier1 ,hebrisches ,wurzelwrterbuch74 ,thus it seems possible for monosyllabism to appear in every linguistic family4 ,it is a kind of infirmity produced by causes which are not yet understood2 it is not however a specific feature1 separating the language in which it occurs from the rest1 and setting it in a class by itself4 ,footnote #aaf3 ,goethe says in ,wilhelm ,meister3 8,few ,germans1 and perhaps few men of modern nations1 have the sense of an sthetic whole4 ,we only know how to praise and blame details1 we can only show a fragmentary admiration40 ,footnote #aag3 ,cf4 ,w4 von ,humboldt1 ber die ,kawi-,sprache1 ,introduction1 p4 xcv3 8,we may call the sound that imitates the meaning of a word symbolic1 although the symbolic element in speech goes far deeper than this4444 ,this kind of imitation undoubtedly had a great1 and perhaps exclusive1 influence over the early attempts at word-building40 ,footnote #aah3 ,there is probably another jargon of the same kind as ,balabalan4 ,this is called 8,afnsko10 and is spoken by the pedlars and horse-dealers of ,greater ,russia1 especially in the province of ,vladimir4 ,it is confined to men4 ,the grammar is entirely ,russian1 though the roots are foreign4 7,see ,pott1 ,ersch and ,gruber's ,encyclopdie1 ,indogermanischer ,sprachstamm1 p4 #aaj47 ,footnote #aai3 ,c4 ,o4 ,mller1 in an admirable passage which ,i cannot resist the temptation of transcribing1 shows the true nature of language3 8,our age has learnt1 by the study of the ,hindu and especially the ,germanic languages1 that the laws of speech are as fixed as those of organic life4 ,between different dialects1 developing independently after their separation1 there are still mysterious links1 which reciprocally determine the sounds and their sequences4 ,literature and science set limits to this growth1 and arrest perhaps some of its richer developments2 but they cannot impose any law on it higher than that ordained by nature1 mother of all things4 ,even a long time before the coming of decadence and bad taste1 languages may fall sick1 from outward or inward causes1 and suffer vast changes2 but so long as life remains in them1 their innate power is enough to heal their wounds1 to set their torn limbs1 and to restore unity and regularity1 even when the beauty and perfection of the noble plants has almost entirely disappeared0 7,die ,etrusker1 p4 #fe74 ,footnote #abj3 ,pott1 op4 cit41 p4 #gd4 ,footnote #aba3 ,that the mixture of idioms is proportionate to that of the races constituting a nation had already been noticed before philology1 in the modern sense1 existed at all4 ,kmpfer for example says in his 8,history of ,japan0 7published in #agbi73 8,we may take it as a fixed rule that the settlement of foreigners in a country will bring a corresponding proportion of foreign words into the language2 these will be naturalized by degrees1 and become as familiar as the native words themselves40 ,footnote #abb3 ,keferstein shows that ,german is merely a hybrid language made up of ,celtic and ,gothic 7,ansichten ber die keltischen ,altertmer1 ,halle1 #ahdf-ea2 ,introduction1 p4 xxxviii74 ,grimm is of the same opinion4 ,footnote #abc3 ,w4 von ,humboldt says3 8,languages1 that are apparently crude and unrefined1 may show some striking qualities in their structure1 and often do so4 ,in this respect they may quite possibly surpass more highly developed tongues4 ,the comparison of ,birman with ,delaware1 not to speak of ,mexican1 can leave no doubt of the superiority of the latter2 yet a strand of ,indian culture has certainly been interwoven into ,birman by ,pali0 7ber die ,kawi-,sprache1 ,introduction1 p4 xxxiv74 ,footnote #abd3 ,this difference of level between the intellect of the conqueror and that of the conquered is the cause of the 8sacred languages0 that we find used in the early days of an empire2 such as that of the ,egyptians1 or the ,incas of ,peru4 ,these languages are the object of a superstitious veneration2 they are the exclusive property of the upper classes1 and often of a sacerdotal caste1 and they furnish the strongest possible proof of the existence of a foreign race that has conquered the country where they are found4 ,footnote #abe3 ,w4 von ,humboldt1 ber die ,kawi-,sprache1 ,introduction1 p4 xxxiv4 ,footnote #abf3 ,see p4 #hb above4 ,footnote #abg3 ,ancient ,greece contained many dialects1 but not so many as the ,greece of the sixteenth century1 when seventy were counted by ,simeon ,kavasila2 further we may notice 7in connexion with the following paragraph7 that in the thirteenth century ,french was spoken throughout ,greece1 and especially in ,attica 7,heilmayer1 quoted by ,pott1 op4 cit41 p4 #gc74 ,footnote #abh3 ,the ,hebrews themselves did not call their language 8,hebrew02 they called it1 quite properly1 the 8language of ,canaan0 7,isaiah xix1 #ah74 ,compare ,roediger's preface to the ,hebrew grammar of ,gesenius 7#afth edition1 ,leipzig1 #ahea1 p4 #g et passim74 ,footnote #abi3 ,this is also the view of ,w4 ,edwards 78,physical ,characteristics of the ,human ,races074 ,footnote #acj3 ,besides the ,jews1 ,i might also mention the ,gipsies4 ,there is1 further1 the case where a people speaks two languages4 ,in ,grisons almost all the peasants of the ,engadine speak ,roumansch and ,german with equal facility1 the former among themselves1 the latter to foreigners4 ,in ,courland there is a district where the peoples speak ,esthonian 7a ,finnish dialect7 to each other and ,lithuanian to every one else 7,pott1 op4 cit41 p4 #ajd74 ,footnote #aca3 ,see pp4 #ig-ajb4 ,footnote #acb3 ,the way was not so long from rustic ,latin1 lingua rustica ,romanorum1 to the lingua romana and thence to corruption1 as it was from the classical tongue1 the precise and elaborate forms of which offered more resistance to decay4 ,we may add that1 as every foreign legionary brought his own provincial patois into the ,gallic colonies1 the advent of a common dialect was hastened1 not merely by the ,celts1 but by the immigrants themselves4 ,footnote #acc3 ,sulp4 ,severus1 ,dial4 ,i de virtutibus monachorum orientalium4 ,footnote #acd3 ,both troubadours who flourished in the latter half of the twelfth century4--,tr4 ,footnote #ace3 ,macaulay1 8,history of ,england10 ad init4 ,the ,albigenses are the special favourites of revolutionary writers1 especially in ,germany 7see ,lenau's poem1 ,die ,albigenser74 ,nevertheless the sectaries of ,languedoc were recruited mainly from the knightly orders and the dignitaries of the ,church4 ,their doctrines were indeed anti-social2 and for this reason much may be pardoned to them4 ,footnote #acf3 ,see the curious remarks of ,gnin in his preface to the ,chanson de ,roland 7edited #ahea74 ,footnote #acg3 ,see ,hickes1 ,thesaurus litteratur septentrionalis2 also ,l',histoire littraire de ,france1 vol4 xvii1 p4 #fcc4 ,footnote #ach3 ,published in the ,revue des ,deux ,mondes4 ,footnote #aci3 ,p4 ,pris1 ,garin le ,loherain1 preface4 ,footnote #adj3 ,it may however be observed that the accent of ,vaud and ,savoy has a southern ring1 strongly reminiscent of the colony of ,aventicum4 ,footnote #ada3 ,see p4 #dc4 ,footnote #adb3 ,pott brings out very well the fact that the different dialects maintain the balance between the blood of a race and its language1 when he says1 8,dialects are the diversity in unity1 the prismatic sections of the monochromatic light and the primordial ,one0 7,ersch and ,gruber's ,encyclopdie1 p4 #ff74 ,the phraseology is obscure2 but it shows his meaning clearly enough4 ,footnote #adc3 ,this caution applies only when the history of a single people is in question1 not that of a group of peoples4 ,although one nation may sometimes change its language1 this never happens1 and could not happen1 in the case of a complex of nationalities1 racially identical though politically independent4 ,the ,jews have given up their national speech2 but the ,semitic nations as a whole can neither lose their native dialects nor acquire others4 ,footnote #add3 8,taste and smell in the negro are as powerful as they are undiscriminating4 ,he eats everything1 and odours which are revolting to us are pleasant to him0 7,pruner74 ,footnote #ade3 ,carus1 op4 cit41 p4 #fj4 ,footnote #adf3 ,martius observes that the ,european is superior to the coloured man in the pressure of the nervous fluid 7,reise in ,brasilien1 vol4 i1 p4 #bei74 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,the ,,renaissance ,,by ,,count ,,arthur ,,de ,,gobineau ,,translated ,,by ,,paul ,v4 ,,cohn1 ,,with ,,an ,,introductory ,,essay ,,on ,,count ,,gobineau',s ,,life ,,and ,,work1 ,,by ,,dr4 ,,oscar ,,levy ,one ,volume1 ,demy #hvo1 ,illustrated1 #ajs net ,,london3 ,,william ,,heinemann ,these five historical dramas cover the flowering time of the ,italian ,renaissance from the rise to prominence of ,savonarola 7#adib7 to the last days of ,michael ,angelo 7about #aefj74 ,while grouped round the leading figures who provide the titles--,savonarola1 ,cesare ,borgia1 ,julius ,,ii1 ,leo ,x1 and ,michael ,angelo--the plays introduce almost every interesting character of the period4 ,nor are we only concerned with the great names2 the author aims at catching the spirit of the people1 and the thoughts and feelings of soldier1 artisan1 trader1 and their womenfolk find ample voice in his pages4 ,the ,italian ,renaissance is an epoch of peculiar interest to ,english readers1 not least because of its profound influence on our own ,elizabethan age4 ,it is perhaps the most many-sided period in history3 even fifth-century ,greece scarcely contributed so much--or at any rate so much that has survived-to the world of politics1 art1 and thought4 ,now while this interest is amply reflected in contemporary literature1 from the monumental work of ,symonds down to the flotsam and jetsam of everyday fiction1 there is one kind of man who more than an historian would show insight into this age1 and that is a poet4 ,it is as a poet's work that ,gobineau's 8,historical ,scenes0 recommend themselves to the public4 ,but there are many kinds of poets2 there is the religious and moral kind1 there is the irreligious and sub-moral kind1 and there is the super-religious and super-moral kind4 ,only the last-named can understand1 can feel1 can sympathise with such mighty figures as ,cesare ,borgia and ,julius ,,ii--the religious poet being inclined to paint them as monsters1 the sub-religious as freaks and neurotics4 ,similia similibus3 equals can only be recognised by their equals1 and ,gobineau was himself a type of the ,renaissance flung by destiny into an age of low bourgeois and socialist ideals4 ,in a century swayed by romanticism and democracy1 ,gobineau was a classic and an aristocrat4 ,he is a forerunner of ,nietzsche 78the only ,european spirit ,i should care to converse with10 said ,nietzsche of him in a letter71 and as such is peculiarly fitted to deal with one of the few periods that was not dominated by the moral law4 ,for this reason ,gobineau cannot fail to attract the large and evergrowing circle of students of ,nietzsche in this country and ,america4 8,i can only add that this is a volume of serious import1 worth reading from cover to cover1 a book which even a jaded reviewer closes with a sigh of regret that he has not got to read it all over again40--,g4 ,s4 ,,layard in the ,bookman4 8,we scarcely know whether to be more struck with the truth or liveliness of these portraits4 ,savonarola1 for example1 is something more than the ,savonarola of history and tradition4 ,not only is the character of the man subtly brought out2 not only are we made aware1 for the first time1 adequately1 of that devouring egotism which could see nothing but self as ,god's instrument1 self as the scourge of ,florence1 self as the inspired prophet2 but beneath all this and vouching for it is the consciousness of the reality of the man1 the consciousness that his cries of distress are real cries1 and his moments of fierce aspiration and black despair genuine experiences4 ,more touching and even more lifelike is the figure of ,michael ,angelo1 a figure in the main familiar to us1 but endowed with advancing years with a peace of mind1 a lucidity of intelligence1 and a breadth of sympathy such as were foreign to its young and stormy epoch4 ,the last scene between ,michael ,angelo and ,vittoria ,colonna is a noble one1 and can be read more than once with pleasure40--,the ,morning ,post4 8,a debt is due to ,dr4 ,oscar ,levy for bringing before ,english readers this translation of that great work of ,count ,gobineau1 in which1 through the medium of the drama1 he reveals his reverence for the spirit that inspired the ,italian ,renaissance4 ,the plays constituting the book are five in number1 #8,savonarola1' #8,cesare ,borgia1' #8,julius ,,ii1' #8,leo ,x1' and #8,michael ,angelo1'--and nothing more brilliant has appeared in recent times4 ,in scope we can only compare with it ,mr4 ,hardy's #8,dynasts1' but no more striking contrast could be conceived than the creations of these two geniuses4 ,through the pages of these plays moves the whole glittering pageant of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries1 a mob of soldiers1 priests1 artists1 men and women1 slaying1 plundering1 preaching1 poisoning1 painting1 rioting1 and loving1 while out of the surgent mass rise the figures of the splendid three1 ,borgia1 ,julius1 and ,michael ,angelo1 dominating all by the sheer greatness of their ideas and their contempt for other men's opinions4 ,they are the great aristocrats of their time1 and the five plays--really one in conception--are an assertion of the saving grace of aristocracy1 of the glory of race1 at a time when the democratic flood1 whose source is ,christianity1 was beginning to pour over ,europe1 to the overwhelming of all greatness of thought and art4 ,the translation1 which is excellent1 is by ,paul ,v4 ,cohn40--,glasgow ,herald4 ,,london3 ,,william ,,heinemann ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,transcriber',s ,,notes #a4 ,silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling4 #b4 ,retained archaic1 non-standard1 and uncertain spellings as printed4 #c4 ,enclosed italics font in underscores4