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THE PSYCHOLOGY
OF PEOPLES
By Gustave Le Bon
Author of "The
Crowd
"
NEW YORK
THE MACMILLAN
CO,
L35
CONTENTS
BOOK
I
PAGE
.
3-16
the naturalists classify species Application of their to man Defective side of the classifications of the human races at present in vogue Foundations of a psychoThe average types of the races they logical description may be established by observation The psychological factors which determine the average type of a race The influence of ancestors and that of the immediate parents Common psychological groundwork possessed by all the individuals of a race Immense influence of bygone generations on the present generation Mathematical reasons for this influence the collective soul has spread from the family to the village, from the city to the surrounding district Advantages and dangers of the conception of the city Circumstances under which the formation of the collective soul is impossible the natural races have given way to Example of Italy the historic races.
How
How
How
CHAPTER
THE
II
THE CHA17-24
The
variability of the character of races, and not its fixity, constitutes the apparent rule Reasons for this appearance
and
variability
vi
CONTENTS
PAGE
characteristics Analogies between the psychological characteristics and the irreducible and modifiable characteristics of the animal species It is only environment,
of
the
secondary
circumstances, and education that influence the accessory psychological characteristics The possibilities of character Examples furnished by the different periods The men of the
What they became at different periods national characteristics endure in spite of revolutions Various examples Conclusion.
Terror
How
CHAPTER
III
. .
25-38
assiPsychological classification is based, as are anatomical fications, on the determination of a small number of irreducible
Psychological classification primitive races The inferior races superior races The psychological elements the grouping of which allows of this classification The elements which are of the most importance Character Morality The intellectual qualities are modifiable by education The qualities appertaining to character are irreducible and constitute the unvarying element in each people Their role in history it is impossible for different races to understand and influence one another The reasons why it is
characteristics
and fundamental
of the
Why
CHAPTER
VIDUALS AND RACES
The
inequality between the
IV
INDI-
39-49
different individuals of a race
is
Mental greater in proportion to the superiority of the race equality of all the individuals of inferior races To appreciate the differences that separate races, the superior individuals of
each people and not its average representatives must be compared The progress of civilisation tends towards a greater and greater differentiation of individuals and races Conse-
quences of this differentiation The psychological reasons which prevent its becoming too considerable The individuals
of the superior races are highly differentiated as regards their intelligence, and very slightly so as regards their character heredity constantly tends to reduce individual superiorities to the average type of the race Anatomical observations confirming the progressive psychological differentiation of
How
races, individuals,
and
sexes.
CONTENTS
vii
CHAPTER V
PAGE
FORMATION OF THE HISTORICAL RACES How historical races are formed Conditions
.
50-60
which allow of different races combining to form a single race Influence of the number of the individuals involved in the process, of the dissimilarity of their characters, of the environments, etc. Results of cross-breeding Causes of the great inferiority of half-breeds Mobility of the new psychological characteristics created by cross-breeding How these characteristics come to be fixed The critical periods of history Cross-breeding constitutes an essential factor in the formation of new races, and at the same time a powerful factor in the dissolution of civilisations Importance of the regime of castes Influence of environment Environment can only exert its influence on new races in process of formation, and on races whose ancestral characteristics are giving way before the action of cross-breeding Environment is without influence on old races Various examples The majority of the historical races of Europe are still in process of formation Political and social consequences Why the period of formation of historical races will
soon be over.
BOOK
II
HO IV THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RACES ARE DISPLAYED IN THE VARIOUS ELEMENTS OF THEIR CIVILISATIONS
CHAPTER
THE VARIOUS ELEMENTS OF A
I
....
:
63-80
of which a civilisation is composed are the exterior manifestations of the soul of the peoples which have created them The importance of these various elements varies with the different peoples According to the several peoples it is the arts, literature, institutions, etc., that fill the fundamental role Examples from antiquity the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans The evolution of the different elements of a civilisation may be independent of the general march of that civilisation Examples supplied by the arts What they
The elements
viii
CONTENTS
PAGE
Impossibility of finding in a single element of a civilisation the measure of the level of that civilisation Elements which assure the superiority of a people Elements which philosophically are very inferior may be socially very
express
superior.
CHAPTER
II
How
INSTITUTIONS, RELIGIONS,
AND LANGUAGES
. .
ARE TRANSFORMED
The
.81-99
superior races are as powerless as the inferior races to transform suddenly the elements of their civilisation Contradictions presented by the peoples which have changed their The example of Japan In religions, languages, and arts what respect these changes are only apparent The profound transformations undergone by Buddhism, Brahmanism, Mahometanism and Christianity according to the various races by which they have been adopted The variations undergone by institutions and languages according to the race that adopts them That the words which in different languages are considered to correspond represent very dissimilar ideas and modes of thought Impossibility for this reason of translating certain languages Why, in books of history, the civilisation of a people sometimes seems to have undergone profound Limits of the reciprocal influence of different changes
civilisations.
CHAPTER
III
.
.
.
100-126
Application of the principles already set forth to the study of the evolution of the arts among the Oriental peoples Egypt The religious ideas from which its arts are derived Developments that await its arts when they are transplanted amid different races Ethiopians, Greeks, and Persians Primitive inferiority of Grecian art Slowness of its evolution Adoption and evolution in Persia of Grecian art, Egyptian art, and Assyrian art The transformations undergone by the arts depend on the race and not on religious beliefs Examples supplied by the great transformations undergone by Arabian art according to the races which have adopted Islamism Application of our principles to the investigation of the origin and evolution of the arts in India India and Greece went to the same sources, but in consequence of the diversity of the races they developed arts having no relationship Immense transformations undergone by architecture in India among the different races in spite of the similarity of their beliefs.
:
CONTENTS
ix
PAGE
BOOK
III
THE HISTORY OF PEOPLES CONSIDERED AS A CONSEQUENCE OF THEIR CHARACTER CHAPTER I How THE SOUL OF PEOPLES is RESPONSIBLE FOR
THEIR INSTITUTIONS
The
129-137
history of a people is always determined by its mental constitution the political institutions Various examples of France are the outcome of the soul of the race Their real
How
invariability beneath their apparent variability different political parties pursue identical political
Our most
ends under
different names Their ideal is always centralisation and the destruction of individual initiative to the profit of the State the French Revolution merely executed the programme of the old monarchy Contrast between the ideal of the AngloSaxon race and the Latin ideal The initiative of the citizen substituted for the initiative of the State Peoples' institutions are always the outcome of their character.
How
CHAPTER
II
APPLICATION OF PRECEDING PRINCIPLES TO THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN REPUBLICS
.
138-152
The English
character the American soul has been formed Severity of the selection resulting from the conditions of existence Forced disappearance of the inferior elements The negroes and the Chinese Reasons of the prosperity of the United States and of the decadence of the SpanishAmerican republics in spite of identical political institutions Inevitable anarchy of the Spanish-American republics as a consequence of the inferiority of the characteristics of the race.
How
CHAPTER
III
How THE
The
153-164
influence of foreign elements at once transforms the soul of a race, and in consequence its civilisation Example of the
Romans
Roman
civilisation
CONTENTS
p
invasions, but
by the pacific invasions of the Barbarians The Barbarians never formed the project of destroying the Empire Their invasions were not of the nature of conquests The early Frank chiefs always considered themselves to be functionaries of the Roman Empire They always respected Roman civilisation, and their aim was to continue it It was only from the seventh century onwards that the Gallic barbarian
chiefs ceased to consider the
Emperor
as their superior
The
complete transformation of Roman civilisation was not the consequence of a work of destruction, but of the adoption of
an ancient civilisation by a new race The modern invasions of the United States The civil strife and the breaking up of the United States into independent and rival States to which these invasions will lead The invasion of France by foreigners and their consequences.
BOOK
IV
HOW THE
PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
167-189
leading ideas of each civilisation are always very few in number Extreme slowness of their birth and disappearance Ideas do not influence conduct until they have been transformed into sentiments They then form part of the character It is thanks to the slowness of the evolution of ideas that ideas take root civilisations possess a certain fixity The reason has no influence whatever The influence of The role of enthusiasts and apostles affirmation and prestige Deformation undergone by ideas as they penetrate the admitted idea soon influences all the masses universally elements of civilisation It is thanks to their community of ideas that the men of each age have a sum total of average conceptions which makes them very much alike in their thoughts and actions The yoke of custom and opinion It is not relaxed until the critical ages of history when the old ideas are losing their influence and have not as yet been replaced This critical age is the only age in which the discussion of opinions can be tolerated Dogmas only hold their own on the condition that they are not discussed Peoples cannot change their ideas and dogmas without being at once
How
CONTENTS
xi
CHAPTER
THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
TION OF CIVILISATIONS
II
PAGE
IN
THE EVOLU190-198
Preponderating influence of religious ideas They have always constituted the most important element of the life of peoples Religious ideas responsible for the majority of historical events
and
social
and
political
institutions
new
civilisation
new
religious idea
Power
of the religious ideal Its influence on character It directs all the faculties towards the same end The political, artistic, and literary history of peoples is the offspring of their beliefs The slightest change in the state of a people's belief results in an entire series of transformations in its existence Various
examples.
CHAPTER
THE ROLE OF GREAT MEN
PEOPLES
The
IN
III
THE HISTORY OF
199-208
great advances made by each civilisation have always been realised by a small elite of superior minds Nature of their role They synthesise all the efforts of a race Examples
supplied by great discoveries Political role of great men They embody the dominant ideal of their race Influence of the great hallucinated Inventors of genius transform a civilisation The fanatics and the hallucinated make history.
BOOK V
THE DISSOCIATION OF THE CHARACTER OF RACES AND THEIR DECADENCE
CHAPTER
Dissolution of
I
211-229
psychological species How hereditary dispositions which had required centuries for their formation may be rapidly lost very long time is always necessary for a people to raise itself to a high level of civilisation, and in some cases a very short time for it to descend therefrom The principal factor in the decadence of a people is the lowering of its character The mechanism of the dissolution of civilisations
xii
CONTENTS
PAGE
has hitherto been the same for all peoples Symptoms of decadence presented by some Latin peoples Development of egoism Diminution of initiative and will power Lowering of character and morality The youth of the present day Probable influence of Socialism Its dangers and its strength How it will cause the civilisations that undergo it to return to wholly barbarous forms of evolution The peoples among whom it will be able to triumph.
CHAPTER
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
.
II
...
230-236
INTRODUCTION
MODERN IDEAS ON SOCIAL EQUALITY AND THE
PSYCHOLOGICAL BASIS OF HISTORY
Origin and development of the idea of equality The consequences it has had The price already paid for its application Its influence The problems examined in the at the present day on the masses
present work An inquiry into the principal factors of the general evolution of peoples Is this evolution determined by institutions ?
The elements
of each civilisation
certain
The element
f^HE
*
civilisation of a
people
is
based on a small
number of fundamental
literature
ideas,
which determine
and
its arts.
These ideas
also very
into being,
Long
continue to
of a nation.
file
new
idea,
but
it is
no
xiv
INTRODUCTION
Humanity has always
its
decayed ideas
and
its
moribund gods.
barely a century and a half ago that certain
it
It is
philosophers, who,
ignorant of the primitive history of man, of the variations of his mental constitution
heredity,
to the masses,
their mind,
itself in
It
has shaken
birth to
end
impossible to foresee.
among
indi-
disputed
it
men
are
born
equally intelligent and good, and that the sole responsibility for their
perversion
lies
they
live under.
all
that
had
to
be done was
INTRODUCTION
to reform the institutions
identical education.
xv
and
to give every
man an
It is in this
way that
institutions
and education have ended by becoming the great panaceas of modern democrats, the means of remedying inequalities which clash with the immortal
principles that are
to-day.
And
yet science, as
it
indi-
which
suit
some
individuals
harmful to others.
lation
it is
destructive progress
There
is
no psychologist, no
traveller,
no
fairly
intelligent statesman
is
who
is
not aware
how
erroneous
this
chimerical
xvi
INTRODUCTION
in
about
Europe
in the
gigantic
revolution,
involved
America
landed
all
sanguinary
War
of Succession, and
decadence
equality, far
from being on
It is in
make headway.
the
name
Western peoIt is
in
its
name
same education
as
man,
and
will end, if
The masses
political
and
social upheavals to
graver
men
for
them
to
be
more
heedful.
Moreover public
it
would be impossible not to bow to it. The only real measure of the social importance of
an idea
is
the influence
it
exerts on
men's minds.
INTRODUCTION
xvii
The degree
interest
of truth or error
it
contains
is
only of
When
an
idea has
come
the consequences
succession.
involves
must be undergone
in
We
it is
name
of
that,
we attempt
to
the
intelligences
the
The chimera
is
doubt-
Reason
is
incapable
of
The
logical
races,
object of this
work
is
characteristics
its civilisation
by these
characteristics.
Neglecting
details, or
we
shall
of the races
xviii
>
INTRODUCTION
formed
in historic
jff
artificially
we
is
We
shall
We
whether
greater differen-
We
shall
composing a civilisation,
beliefs, are
arts,
of
races,
and whether
consequence
it is
not impossible
We
are
shall
the
civilisations
We
have dealt at
on the
The
my
countries,
that
constitution as unaltering as
teristics,
anatomical characthe
a constitution
which
is
source of
its
sentiments,
thoughts, institutions,
beliefs
and
arts.
INTRODUCTION
xix
on the contrary,
while
am
choosing
my
studied
by
They
are
most often
effects
and but
The
history of peoples
is
determined, no doubt, by
of particular cases,
It is full
Side by
side,
however, with
The mental
con-
The
life
institutions, beliefs,
and
arts are
soul.
but
of
its
invisible
For a
arts
it
people to transform
its
institutions, beliefs,
and
must
its
first
transform
its
soul
to enable
it
it
to bequeath
civilisation to
it
another people,
would be necesits
sary that
soul.
Doubtless this
we
xx
INTRODUCTION
show that
itself to
shall easily
it
has allowed
The
reformers
who have
men
but their
efforts
irreducible differences
is
which
the
entirely contrary to
modern
socialists,
but
it is
new
dogma
to renounce their
illusory doctrines.
Their
efforts are
a
in
new phase
humanity
of
The dream
of
equality would perhaps avail as much as the old illusions which cradled us in the past, were it not that
it is
Together
arid
BOOK
BOOK
CHAPTER
low the
man
Application of their methods to Defective side of the classifications of the human races at
present in vogue
The average
observation
The
psychological factors which determine the averThe influence of ancestors and that of the
by
all
Common psychological groundwork possessed the individuals of a race Immense influence of bygone
generations on the present generation Mathematical reasons for this influence How the collective soul has spread from the family
to the village, from the city to the surrounding district Advantages and dangers of the conception of the city Circumstances under which the formation of the collective soul is impossible Example
of Italy
races.
How
way
to the historic
TV T
* ^
anatomical
characteristics
TtfEj.PSYCHOLOGY OF PEOPLES:
by
heredity.
We are
teristics are
attention be
by
may
be said to be invariable.
classification of
number of
By
the
of the skull,
it
human
distinct
different origin.
In the
men who
simply races.
"
if
However,
Caucasian were
snails,
all
unanimously
that
from which
they
to
These anatomical
summary general
divisions.
Their divergencies
ITS
human
negroes
species
for
example.
may
their
and
acting,
and
in
consequence as
regards
civilisations, beliefs,
and
arts.
Is
it
stance, to class in
that
exist
to
between
everybody, and
history
?
be
detected
throughout their
it
has
and
political organisation
but this
The elements
of
classification
and
political
certain
evolution.
It is
that form
what may be
constitution as un-
varying as
not
this
structure,
we cannot have
as a basis of
it
classification.
Moreover, a knowledge of
would
in
no way modify the description of the mental constitution of which it is the determining factor and
which
is
revealed to us
by observation.
characteristics,
intellectual
whose
synthesis of
its
its
conduct.
of
a given
race always
possess a
number of
common
psychological
characteristics,
are regularly
heredity.
may
r igj>tly
Together
ITS
A thousand
Frenchmen, Englishmen,
they possess
common
characteristics
Chinaman
when he
describes in a general
or the horse.
common
to
them
all
which enable
their
be distinguished.
Provided a race be sufficiently ancient, and
in
con-
sequence homogeneous,
its
average type
it
is
established
to
be readily noted by
When we
teristics
visit
common
country
we
The
being
seldom
repeated,
escape
us,
at first sight
a Spaniard, but
we
them
certain
we
referred to above.
An
Englishman or a Gascon,
an inhabitant of
to a type of
of which
we can
Applied
description
;
may seem
applied to
will depict
them
perfectly.
at
The unconscious
pro-
cess
by which we arrive
absolutely identical
classifies species.
due to very
is
Each
individual
the
lated that in
France,
ITS
9
all
In consequence
common
ancestors, are
moulded
by
this
merely the
heavy chain, of which they are We are the children at once links.
Our country
is
our
second mother
for
be wished to state
in precise
language the
in-
fluences
his
conduct, they
first
may
The
immeto be
is
>
the influence
of ancestors
diate parents
the third,
commonly supposed
the most powerful, but nevertheless the weakest, the influence of environment.
The
influence of en-
vironment, including in
its
to
subhis r
during his
life,
The
become
really effective
when heredity has caused their action to be continued in the same direction during a long period.
io
Do what
above
all
is
always and
The
it
totality
were, the
Invisible in
its
its
essence,
it
very visible in
reality
effects,
since
de-
termines
people.
in
the
entire
evolution
of
race
may
cells
The existence
of these
by
their union
is
relatively very
long
own
personal
life
and a
same way each individual of a race has a very short individual life and a very
In the
long collective
of which he
is
life.
This
and on which he
always dependent.
A
is
race
is
to be regarded as a
independent of time.
This permanent
of the dead
who
who
constitute
at a given
moment.
it
To understand
must be considered
ITS
past and
its future.
The dead,
than
the
reign over
more
numerous
more powerful.
They
guided
far
more by by
its
dead than by
its
living
members.
that a race
It is
is
dead, and
by
its
dead alone,
founded.
Century
departed
ancestors have
fashioned our
all
ideas
and
conduct.
The
away do
are
The dead
the only undisputed masters of the living. the burden of their mistakes,
their virtues.
We
bear
we reap
the reward of
The formation
the
creation
of animal
those
geological
periods
Still,
whose
it
immense
the time
demands
considerable.
To
comparatively
the
its
slight
extent
accomplished as
yet,
12
turies
Perhaps
the
most
important
hasten
result
of the French
Revolution was to
this
formation
by greatly
promoting the
:
breaking
Flemish,
Provence,
divided.
up of the minor
Burgundians,
&c.,
nationalities
Picards,
Gascons,
Bretons,
men
of
into
which
France
is
was
far
formerly
from being
complete, and
is
more
especially because
we
are
unknown
to
more homoIn
geneous peoples
1
to the
it
history,
generations. The reason why so relatively brief an interval is sufficient to fix certain characteristics is that when a cause acts for some length or time in the same direction, it speedily produces very considerable effects.
(i, 2, 3, 4, 5,
&c.
),
The progession (2, 4, 8, 16, 32, &c.). In the famous problem of the causes are the logarithms of the effects. doubling of the grains of wheat on the squares of a chessboard, the
effects
and the
successive
Similarly in the case of money invested at compound grains of wheat. interest, the number of years is the logarithm of the accumulated capital.
It is for
may be
work
I
reasons of this order that the majority of social phenomena expressed by very nearly similar geometrical curves. In another arrived at the conclusion that these curves might be expressed
by the equation of the parabola or the hyperbola. My learned friend, M. Cheysson, is of opinion that they are better represented, as a rule, by an exponential equation.
analytically
ITS
13
by forming, as the result of fusion, a very homogeneous type, and everything in consequence is homogeneous in the domain of conduct.
Thanks
to this fusion, the English
have acquired
in
common
beliefs.
sentiments,
common
interests,
and common
When
members on
it
ceases
beliefs,
and
by
gives
the greatness of
Rome
is
in
at the present
day
it
of England.
The moment
The
disappears,
peoples
at
begin
to break up,
it
role of
it.
Rome was
an
end when
ceased to possess
The
beliefs
but
its
progressive extension
Restricted
at first
to the family
the city, and the province, the collective soul has only
spread to
paratively
result
all
modern
this last
country, as
ence.
we understand
notion
is
it
to-day,
came
into exist-
The
is
soul
formed.
notion of the
city,
were always at
one another.
has
it is
past
India
known no
unity
than the
village,
and
two thousand
to an
Weak
though
it
ment of
civilisation.
Though
fruitful.
less spacious
than the
been more
Athens
in ancient times,
may
be attained
ITS
15
When
independent
of time,
its
and pro-
of a national
fusion,
Such a
even
that of centuries.
lieu or
it
To
is
it
a Bismarck
to a head,
when
It is possible
of exceptional
State, but
it it
would be a mistake
suppose that
It
is
me
Sicilians, Venetians,
Romans,
etc.,
but
it
is
not clear
At
consideration, whether
be homogeneous or not, by
it is
civilised
and
for a
it
long while
its
part in history,
must always be
race.
regarded as an
artificial
16
among
is
savages.
It is
only
among
savages that
it
At
We are
is
What
interests us
is
their
characteristics
by a long past. Kept up during centuries by the same conditions of existence and accumulated by heredity, these characteristics have ended by acquiring a high degree of fixity and by determining
CHAPTER
II
and not
its fixity,
constitutes
the apparent rule Reasons for this appearance Invariability of the fundamental characteristics and variability of the secondary characteristics Analogies between the psychological characteristics
It is only environment, circumstances, and education that species influence the accessory psychological characteristics The possibilities
of character
The men
of the Terror
How
national characteristics
Various examples
Conclusion.
is
ITof
At
mental con-
stitution of races
first
brought home
variability
to the observer.
fixity that
sight
to
it
and not
appears
be the general
rule.
The
history
of
for
example,
'7
i8
to be
between the
and that of a modern Englishman ? Does not the circumspect and subtle Italian of the present day seem a very different being from the fierce and
impulsive Italian described in the Memoirs of Ben-
venuto Cellini?
Not
to
go so
far
afield,
and to
are the
how numerous
in the
course of
What
remarked the
the
and
in
modern
seem more
distinct than
Napoleon
in
And
yet
the space of
entirely.
to have changed
To
we
will
psycho-
formed, as
an anatomical species,
fundamental
of a very small
characteristics
number of
irreducible,
around which are grouped accessory characteristics which are modifiable and changeable.
ITS
19
who
is
unrecognisable
to
the
unpractised
affected
the
slightest
extent
;
of
the species
the
all
accessory characteristics.
the
artifices
employed, the
fundamental characteristics
The mental
characteristics
constitution
as
possesses
as
fundamental
anatomical
immutable
the
it
also possesses
accessory
It is
characteristics
that
are
easily
modified.
easily be
may
changed
must
also be
is
/
essential, that
we
all
which circum-
of manifesting themselves.
front,
When
It is in this
way
that at times
of
great
political
or
religious
crisis,
momentary
20
in short,
by a storm
but
it
is
change
It
is
is
lasting.
in
consequence of these
in
possibilities
of
character
put
operation
by
certain exceptional
and
political
appear to us to be
made
of superior stuff to
whom we
men
are the
degenerate sons.
selves, in
like our-
whom
by
all
of us.
"
Take,
for
example, the
"
who
mere
contradiction.
At bottom
who
the
in
existence
in
their
studies
counters.
Extraordinary
whom
at a loss
later,
Robes-
ITS
trate
21
on excellent
priest
his
zeal
in
bringing
made
an excellent
schoolmaster, esteemed
by
his chiefs
To remove
previsions
it
all
is
doubt as
sufficient
what Napoleon accomplished with such of the ferocious Terrorists as had not the time to cut
to note
off
The
majority of
them became
or prefects.
The waves
stirred
up by the storm of
tranquil surface.
in those
Even
in the
which
it
easy to
trace
the
fundamental
characteristics
new developments.
Was
much
difference
in reality
tralised, dictatorial and despotic regime of our strict Jacobins and the centralised, dictatorial and despotic
22
this
incurable
need
of
being
governed, because
was not
solely the
glamour attaching
to
his
victories
that
enabled
When
indeed, in the
an
officer
of
genius,
any adventurer
might have
to his
to
show himself
to obtain the
votes
eager for
that
servitude.
was not
the
i8th
Brumaire
"At his first gesture," writes Taine, "the French bowed in obedience, and they persisted in their attitude, as if it were their natural condition ; the humble, the soldiers, and the peasants, with
1
animal
fidelity
the great,
the
dignitaries
and
functionaries,
;
with
Byzantine
contrary,
servility.
it
The Republicans offered no resistance on the was among them that he found the best instruments of his
reign, his Senators, Deputies, State Councillors, judges and officials Beneath their talk of liberty and equality, he had been of every rank.
and even,
subsidiarily
and
in addition, their
ITS
23
The
influence
men by environment
and transitory elements, or on those possibilities of In character of which we have been speaking.
reality,
the
The
by hunger, attains to a degree of ferocity which renders him capable of every crime, and even leads him occasionally to devour his fellow
mildest man, driven
man. Will
it
be said on
this
minority
all
in its
members
the
;
which
will influence
amid
this discontent
and these
always
show
themselves.
In
the
past,
the
when
Between the delegate of the Committee of Public Safety and the Minister, the Prefect or the subThe man is the same Prefect of the Empire, the difference is slight. and it is only the costume that is altered the carmagnole has been
:
exchanged
for
24
engaged
same indomitable
founding towns,
it
is
that bring
have changed.
When
peoples,
examining
constitution
influence
of
is
we always observe
the
that their
exerted on
them
We
but
only that
the
fixity.
anatomical
It
is
characteristics,
high degree of
on
CHAPTER
III
mental characteristics
races
races
The The
primitive
Psychological classification of the human races The inferior races The average
races
superior
The
psychological
elements
the
grouping of which allows of this classification The elements which are of the most importance Character Morality The The qualities intellectual qualities are modifiable by education
appertaining
to
character
are
irreducible
and
constitute
the
Their role in history Why it is impossible for different races to understand and influence one another The reasons why it is impossible for an inferior people
unvarying element in each people
to
adopt a superior
civilisation.
T
*
^7 HEN
*
it is
work
of
on natural
species,
in
few
in
number.
lines.
but a few
26
that the
no heed
these
Moreover
as
their
fundamental
characteristics
have
series
inevitable
consequence
an
entire
of
other
characteristics.
The
case
is
the
characteristics
of
races.
be gone
into,
between
different peoples
if
and
different individuals.
On
in
teristics
number
each people.
It is
only by examples
we
shall shortly
characteristic
that
this
is
possible to
show
clearly the
influence
of
small
life
number of fundamental
of peoples.
characteristics
on the
study
in detail
would demand
in-
itself several
volumes,
we
shall
be considered, the
four groups
:
human
races
may
;
be divided into
(2)
the inferior
ITS
races
races,
27
(3)
average
races
(4)
the
superior
The
no
trace
of culture
met
with.
in that
state bordering
The
Above
races, represented
more
especially
by the negroes.
They
civilisation,
They have
the
as
at
Saint
civilisa-
tions.
Among
Chinese,
the average
the
races,
we
shall
place
the the
Japanese,
the
Mongolians, and
Semitic peoples.
Only the Indo-European peoples can be classed among the superior races. Both in antiquity, at the
epoch of the Greeks and Romans, and
in
modern
28
times they alone have been capable of great inventions in the arts, the sciences,
and industry.
It is to
them that
is
level
reached by civilisation
they
who have
discovered
steam and
electricity.
The
least
developed of these
superior races,
the Hindoos
in particular,
have risen
to
and philosophy
which
have
No
confusion
is
divisions
we have
enumerated.
is
The mental
It
is
evident.
only
when
it
is
difficulties begin.
An
is
Englishman, a Spaniard, or a
Russian belong
peoples,
all
but
it
matter
of
To
and
it
character.
This
is
the course
we
in order to
show the importance of its consequences. For the moment, we can only indicate very
ITS
29
Among
savages,
societies
and
to
since
the
European
are
by past
by present
sensations.
There
results
from
and a
In the case of
The
inferior
races
further
display
but
an
;
in-
finitesimal
reflection
they
and
30
of foresight.
moment
is
their
only guide.
being
Like Esau
mess of pottage.
his
When man
it
capable of weighing
with perseverance, he
The
instinct of the
individual as well
only
in
as they acquire
power and
in
selves, that
discipline,
Were
it
required to measure
by a
I
should be disposed
The Romans
in
in
the
Anglo-Americans
modern
times,
who have
It
measure.
ITS
It is
31
by
development that the various psychological elements just enumerated form the mental constitutions which
allow of the classification of individuals and races.
Certain of these psychological elements appertain
to character,
and others
races
to the intelligence.
The
superior
are
distinguished
from the
inferior races
by
but
by
their their
intelligence,
is
more
especially
by
distinguished
from
social
one
another.
This
it
point
has
to
considerable
importance, and
deserves
be clearly
established.
Character
is
in
varying
by the name of sentiments. Among the sentiments which play the most important part must more
especially be
noted
power of
on the
self-control, faculties
more or
less
dependent
will.
We
is
the synthesis of
somewhat complex sentiments. By| morality we mean hereditary respect for the rules on
is
based.
To possess
32
As
these
rules
morality
and
it is
so in fact
it
moment,
The
off-
is
until
it
has
become
In a
general
way
The
slightly modified
by education
its
is
those of character
influence.
When
education
whose
will
is
who
may
with
be given them.
in
individuals,
is
only in
The
discoveries
of
the
intelligence
to
are
easily
transmitted
from
one
people
another.
The
impossible.
They
ITS
33
**
The
of
scoveries
common
patrimony
humanity
qualities
or
defects
away
its
external
asperities.
They
are
the
of the fins of
fish,
The
its
intelligence
its
determines
destiny.
It
historical
evolution,
and governs
most
fictitious
The
influence of character
is
sovereign in the
is
life
in truth
very feeble.
The Romans
more
intelligence far
34 selves to
laws
their forefathers.
and
fifty
millions of Hindoos,
many
whom
are at
few surpass
them immensely
and the
consequence
most gigantic colonial empire known to history. It is character and not intelligence that goes to the
founding of
it is
societies, religions,
never derived
desire to reason
1 The extreme weakness and slight practical interest of the works of professional psychologists is more especially to be ascribed to the fact that they have confined themselves almost exclusively to the study of
M. Paulhan
in a
in his interesting
Essai sur
les
caracteres ,
and M. Ribot
few passages, unfortunately only too short, are almost the only psychologists I can recall who have pointed out the importance of character, and noted that it forms the true basis of the mental constitution.
"The intelligence," the learned professor of the College of France rightly declares, "is only an accessory form of the mental The fundamental type is character, which the intelligence evolution.
am
rather tends to destroy when it is too developed." It is to the study of character that attention must be directed, as I
when
It
it is
would be
understand
ITS
It is
35
world and of
life,
and, in con-
We
Impressed
in
a certain
manner by external
and acts
will
feels, thinks,
in a
feel,
that in
which
The
con-
sequence
is
that
it
is
impossible
that
mental
on very varied
The
more
century-old
be continually borne
feel,
in
mind that
the
different races
cannot
that, in
think, or act in
consequence, they
cannot
different
one
another.
Doubtless
the
common
and
knowledge that
it
the object of study, were it not for the can be acquired neither in laboratories nor in books,
made
but only in the course of long travel. There is no indication moreover that it is on the eve of being taken up by the professional psychologists, who at the present day are more and more abandoning what used to be
their
researches.
36
common words
ideas,
uttered.
among
peoples
whose mental
degree
obtain
some idea of
this
exists
by observing the great mental separation that between the civilised man and woman, even
the latter
is
when
the
highly educated.
interests
They might
without
converse with
for
centuries
understanding one another, because they are constructed on lines too different to allow of their being
The
difference
to
in
their
logical
faculties
is
alone
sufficient
gulf.
create
between
them an insuperable
how
it
is
ITS
37
on
inferior
peoples.
The
idea,
still
so wideis
one
memory
man
it is
doubt-
human
by a European.
negro or
a Japanese
may
;
become
is
a lawyer
however quite
mental
superficial,
his
constitution.
What no
and above
all
the
Our negro
possible
or
our
Japanese
may accumulate
It is
all
certificates
European.
is
to say a
as an
in the different
stances of
sufficient.
It
38
suddenly transforms
beliefs
language,
its
constitution,
its
or
its
arts.
it
to be really
it
accomplished,
should be
able to transform
CHAPTER
IV
INDI-
inequality between the different individuals of a race is greater in Mental equality of all the proportion to the superiority of the race
individuals of inferior races To appreciate the differences that separate races, the superior individuals of each people and not its average representatives must be compared The progress of civilisa-
tends towards a greater and greater differentiation of indiand races Consequences of this differentiation The psychological reasons which prevent its becoming too considerable
viduals
The
Ition
individuals of the superior races are highly differentiated as regards their intelligence, and very slightly so as regards their character How heredity constantly tends to reduce individual superito the average type of the race Anatomical observations confirming the progressive psychological differentiation of races,
orities
individuals,
and
sexes.
THE
is
by
their psychologica
and anatomical
supplied
further distinction
by the
which
40
sensibly the
They
all
of
them
resemble one another, and they are thus a perfect exemplification of the equality
socialists.
is
the law.
in order to appreciate the differences
when they
possess such
and not
their inferior
must
be compared.
On
the other
when
compared
their differentiation
found to be considerable.
superior races
rentiated.
The
modern
is
civilisation, clashing
not to render
but,
men
more and more equal intellectually, trary, more and more different.
on the con-
One
is,
demands of peoples
who have
ITS
41
of which each
civilised
people
is
composed.
The
conditions
of
modern
industrial
evolution
condemn the
intelligence,
merely
tends to lessen
it.
A
artist
mechanism
a mere
To-day, he
is
toiler,
speciality,
who spends
The
same
holes,
polishing the
same portion of an
result
is
driving the
same machine.
intelligence
is
soon complete.
directs the
The manufacturer
or
the engineer
who
workman
is
obliged, on
and
more numerous acquirements and much more enterprise and invention than
century back.
his predecessor of a
His brain
is
con-
stantly
law which
applies to
when
42
of development
it
"
In propor-
more thorough
application, the
workman becomes
more dependent,
Every day the
falls
back.
At
may
be con-
tute a sort of
are formed
steps
by the masses of the population, the upper by the intelligent classes, 1 and the point of the
pyramid by a very small elite of men of science, inventors, artists, and writers, an exceedingly restricted
group as compared with the
1
but
a characteristic
error of the Latin peoples to believe that intelligence and culture go Culture merely implies the possession of a certain amount of together.
memory, but
to acquire
it
no judgment,
Persons of very restricted intelligence are often met are necessary. with among those who have passed examinations, while it is quite as
common
intelligent.
who are highly portion of our pyramid would be formed then by elements taken from all classes. All the professions contain a very Still it appears probable, in small number of notable intelligences.
to find persons of a very slight degree of culture
The upper
social
number, and
superiority
lies.
ITS
43
would
suffice
for
it
nation to
"Were
suddenly
leading
its
fifty
leading
men
of science,
its
fifty
leading manufacturers,
its fifty
would
become a
If
body without a
the contrary
it
soul,
it
would be decapitated.
all its officials,
on
were to lose
the French
are
softlittle
loss
because they
harm."
differentiation
it
what mathematicians
It
geometrical
if
progression.
certain
effects
would
suffice
in
consequence,
intervene,
of
heredity did
not
to
man from
intellectual differ-
44
becomes,
is
place, the
and
and
we know
that
it
is
intellilife
the
of
and
become
all-powerful.
Their hatred of
it
is
probable
is
destined to be
When
its
all
endowed with a
however
slightly,
level.
The two
ficial
causes
have just
an
arti-
civilisation that
may vary.
But there
it is
is
a further and
far
an
irresistible natural
elite
law
of a nation,
ITS
45
becoming so
differenti-
The
men
of the
same
who
marked a manner, or
at least to bring
them down
to this average.
intelli-
to a process of degeneration
who
possess
it
leave
In reality the
I
spoke above
it
assimilates
If all
their
inter-marriages
would
result
in
the
in
consequence to
dis-
46
appear speedily. Great intellectual superiorities may be compared to the botanical monstrosities created
by the
artifice
of a gardener.
Left to themselves
powerful since
it
repre-
Attentive study
that
while
may
be
immensely
unalterable
rock
of which
have
should be considered,
in conse-
From
and
value depends on a
small
elite to
which
is
due the
scientific, literary,
From
the point
is
alone important.
The
strength of peoples
is
always
dependent on the
Peoples
Mite,
may
do
but not
We
shall shortly
prove
this statement.
It is
ITS
47
is
which progresses
Around
this
fundamental kernel
peoples
is
found
of
importance as regards
civilisation,
but
is
with-
Incessantly
at
being destroyed,
it is
vary but very slowly, since the slightest variaorder to become durable, must be accumu-
tions, in
lated in the
centuries.
It
same
direction
by heredity during
several
arrived, basing
my
conclusions on
researches of a
purely anatomical
entiation of individuals
I
and
races,
and
to justify
which
have
psychological reasons.
As
same
results, I
may be
clusions of
my
earlier investigations.
48
races.
sages
The volume
when, leaving individual cases out of consideration, series are dealt It is then found that what distinguishes inferior from with. superior
is not the slight variations in the average capacity of their skulls, but this essential fact that the superior race contains a certain number of individuals whose brain is highly developed, whereas the inferior
races
Races
differ, in
consequence, not
in
respect to the masses that constitute them, but in respect to the small number of individuals who stand out from the crowd. The average
difference
except
when
is never very considerable. quite inferior races are under consideration When the skulls are compared of the various human races, belonging
to the past and present, it is found that the races in which the volume of the skull presents the greatest individual variations are the most
highly civilised races ; that in proportion as a race grows civilised, the skulls of the individuals composing it become more and more differentiated
;
pronounced.
an inequality that is always growing more Anatomical and physiological equality only exist in the case of individuals of quite inferior races. The differences between the members of a tribe of savages, all of whom follow the same occupation,
are perforce of the slightest. Between the peasant whose vocabulary consists of some three hundred words, and the man of learning who is
hundred thousand words and with the ideas that correspond to them, the difference is, on the contrary, enormous. I should add to what precedes that the differentiation of individuals
familiar with a
is
superior peoples the level. On the other hand, in proportion as peoples the difference between the sexes is accentuated.
Among inferior peoples or the inferior classes of man and the woman are intellectually on much the
grow
civilised
same
The volume
compared, as
civilisation.
ot the
skull,
in
my
Very
same age, height, differences that increase rapidly with the degree of slight in the case of the inferior races, these differinvestigations, are strictly of the
ITS
49
In these ences become immense in the case of the superior races. superior races the feminine skulls are often scarcely more developed Whereas the average than those of the women of very inferior races. volume of the skulls of male Parisians is such as to range them among
average of the skulls of female Parisians skulls with which we are acquainted, almost on a level with the skulls of Chinese women, and scarcely above
the largest
classes
skulls, the
known
New
Caledonia. 1
Dr. Gustave
le
et
mathematiqties sur
les
V intelli-
Academy
of Sciences and
CHAPTER V
FORMATION OF THE HISTORICAL RACES
How
historical races are
formed
Influence of the number of races combining to form a single race the individuals involved in the process, of the dissimilarity of their
characters, of the environments, etc.
How
these
periods of history Cross-breeding constitutes an essential factor in the formation of new races, and at the same time a powerful factor in the dissolution
to
critical
come
be fixed
The
of civilisations
environment
races
in
Importance of the regime of castes Influence of Environment can only exert its influence on new process of formation, and on races whose ancestral
way
Environment
is
Various examples
majority of the historical races of Europe are still in process Political and social consequences of formation Why the period
of formation of historical races will soon be over.
The
WE
races,
the
scientific
sense
of the word,
are
scarcely to be
is
meant
races created
politics, etc.,
51
and formed,
in
of different origins.
How
and
common
we
psychological characteristics
are about to investigate.
This
is
the point
Let
it
first
of
all
Slav,
which
The
who
live
another example
for
As
the
quite
inferior
such as Redskins,
Australians,
do they not
combine with the superior peoples, but they disappear rapidly after they have come in contact with
them.
inferior people
which
confronted
with
superior
people
is
inevitably
condemned
Three conditions are necessary to allow of races fusing and forming a new and more or less homo"geneous race.
The
first
condition
is
number
the
52
The
first
enumerated
of
capital
importance.
small
any trace of
their blood
among
their
descendants.
who
dis-
way.
able, as has
in
them
civilisation, their
and
The second
is
also
example,
may
fuse,
The
When
men and
Domingo,
ITS
53
lamentable degeneration.
may
occurs between
and
sufficiently
allied
races,
such as the
it
always
To
two peoples
is
to
change simultaneously
heredity being
new
race, possessing
new
physical and
psychological characteristics.
The
1
by too large a proportion of half-breeds given over to perpetual anarchy, unless they are ruled by an iron hand. Such will inevitably be the fate of Brazil. White men form only a third of its population. The remainder is
All the countries inhabited
are, solely for this reason,
The famous Agassiz rightly have visited Brazil for it to be impossible to deny the decadence that results from cross-breeding which goes on in this country to a greater extent than elsewhere. This crossbreeding is fatal, he says, to the best qualities whether of the white man, the black, or the Indian, and produces an indescribable type
composed
of
observed "that
is
sufficient to
suffers."
54
very weak
To
fix
them
long,
first
is
The
to
mean
that congeries of
common
ideas
which there
land.
is
father-
The
period
the critical
all
that
is
a period
and
it
new
psychological
What
formation of
new
races
and
as a powerful factor in
It is
with reason,
Had
it
some
three thousand
years
ago,
would have
ITS
55
every
side,
and no
civilisation
into
If in
modern times the English had not followed the same system, if they had consented to intermarry
with the indigenous inhabitants, their gigantic Indian
since
overtaken
may sustain many losses, may be by many catastrophes, and yet recover from
people
it it
is
past
when
soul.
civilisations
at the
role of which
it.
It fosters
new
civilisation
because
the old
in
psychological
characteristics
of the races
new
characteristics
the influence of
the
It
new
is
conditions of existence.
only on races
whose ancestral
in
characteristics
56
mentioned
influence
at
the
beginning
of
environment.
While very
slight
is,
on
on the
new
races.
Cross-breeding,
charac-
by
teristics, creates
action
may succeed
to
new
psychological
Then, and
historical race
new
way
was
constituted.
The
is
influence of environment
physical or moral
in
to circumstances,
and
this is the
explanation of the
regard to
influence
is
its
action.
We
this
;
course of formation
have said
by the long action of heredity, we could that the influence of environment is, on the
As
we have proof
of
the insignificance of
ITS
57
Western
East, even
when
the Chinese
The
by
slight
is
shown
Trans-
which
it
is is
and the
statement
plants
Egypt has always been the tomb of the many different races that have effected its conquest. Not a single
people has been able to acclimatise
country.
itself
in
the
that
is
met with
that
of the
impassible
exactly
resemble
engraved
seven
thousand
by the Egyptian
artists.
The majority
still
in course of formation,
and
is
it is
important that
it
should be
known
that this
At
Englishman
is
who
represents an
58
In France,
very different
from
the
Breton, the
inhabitant of
Normandy.
Frenchman, there
regions.
at
Un-
ideas
and character.
difficult
in
con-
them
equally well,
and
it
it
is
only by
dint of energetic
concentration that
is
possible to lend
them some
community of thought.
of sentiment and
belief,
upheavals
main, to
which
result
therefrom,
due,
in
the
differences of
situation
when
different
The
dis-
different.
When
ITS
59
The
races
disappear
with
their
founder.
Among
modern
solely
due
them
in
reality to
engaging
in
the great
perish
To
it is
by itself and
to endure, slow,
formation should be
fusion
and the
of the gradual
of but
slightly different
on the
same
soil,
may come
to
form
a highly homogeneous
As
become more
by means
their transformation
60
As
it
advances
in age,
humanity feels the burden of heredity grow heavier, and transformations become more difficult. So far as
Europe
is
concerned,
it
may
BOOK
II
HO [V THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RACES ARE D ISPLA YED IN THE VARIOUS ELEMENTS OF THEIR CIVILISATIONS
BOOK
HOW THE
II
PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RACES ARE DISPLA YED IN THE VARIOUS ELEMENTS OF THEIR CIVILISATIONS
CHAPTER
THE VARIOUS ELEMENTS OF A CIVILISATION CONSIDERED AS AN EXTERIOR MANIFESTATION OF THE SOUL OF A PEOPLE
The elements
of which a civilisation
is
exterior
manifestations of the soul of the peoples, which have created them The importance of these various elements varies with the different
peoples
institutions,
:
According to the several peoples it is the arts, literature, etc., that fill the fundamental role Examples from
Romans
Impossibility of finding in a single element of a civilisation the measure of the level of that civilisation
What
they express
Elements which assure the superiority of a people Elements which philosophically are very inferior may be socially very
superior.
"^HE
ideas,
civilisation
arts,
literature,
of
which
as the
64
exterior
of
the
soul
of
the
men
who have
of these elements as the expression of the soul of a people varies greatly with the period and the races.
Few books
works of
relating to
works of
art
appear at the
thought
Doubtless
the rule
is
it
is
is
a long
development of the
far
from corresponding
whom
works of
their
who
rank
arts
in
among whom
part.
the
If the
ought to vary
in the case
of each people.
arts,
For some
that would
ITS
65
important
will
enable
us later to understand
how
it
is
that
the various
transformations
people to another.
Among
Romans
examples of
this
is
composed.
Their
their
painting of
they produced
Their
monuments
still
The Egyptian
come down
would
still
be models at
only during a very short period that they were surpassed by the Greeks.
With the Egyptians let us compare the Romans, whose role in history was so preponderating. They
lacked neither educators nor models, since they
after the
came
66
No
people,
its
less
originality in
productions.
The Romans
on
them
merely
as
sort
of
imported
as
article
products, such
metals,
At
and even
later on,
when
weak,
artistic
models and
artists.
The
is
of
Roman
architecture
and
sculpture
more than an appendix to the history of the sculpture and architecture of Greece.
On
Roman
people, which
was so
the
arts,
elements of
civilisation
to
which insured
it
the
political
and
juridical institu;
which
still
serve
us
as
models
and
finally,
ITS
67
We
of culture
We
arts,
exception
of
painting, were
extremely
the
original
and
contrary,
Among
the
Romans
and
their military
and
political institutions
The Greeks
most superiority
be cited
in
in the
most
may
also
proof of the
unequal
way
in
At
the
Homeric
brilliant, since
Homer
are
still
condemned
to saturate themselves
a view that
proved
at
the
68
and confined
Assyrian
art.
it
Egyptian and
However,
is
more
especially the
Hindoos that
furnish us with an
ment of the
As
surpassed by
As
European thought at a quite recent date. In literature, if they do not reach the level of the Greeks
and Latins, they have nevertheless produced admirable work. Their statuary, on the contrary, is
mediocre, and
the
much below
In
that
of historical
is
not
met with
to an equal degree
in
would be
insufficient to
their civilisation.
ITS
69
support
There are races which, although they have never occupied an absolutely superior rank,
have succeeded
in creating
The
in
point.
the
Byzantine
it
archi-
would
in-
still
able to
Moreover, even
if
any
capable of creating
This happened
in
was
commerce.
It
civilised
by bringing
parts
into
communication
are
peoples
among whom
in
all
the
lents of civilisation
have remained
an inferior
The Mongolians
70
were a people of
scarcely
most beautiful
the hand of
classing the
It will
some of them rank among the monuments that have been raised by
;
man
among
the
most
civilised peoples,
is
Among
;
the
monuments
Europe,
as
it
most ancient
while in
was
semi-barbarian,
that
marvellous
been equalled.
In consequence
it
is
by the development of
repeat, but
arts,
which constitute,
its
is
one of the
elements of
superiority
civilisation,
not
proven
is is
any
more than
It often
the
superiority of literature
proven.
happens,
it
among
the
Romans,
instance, in
ITS
71
Frequently too,
in
as
we
and
just
has been
duced
artistic
masterpieces
It
their
would even
a growth belonging to
its
childif it
hood or
its
maturity
and
be considered
pations of the
scarcely observable,
will
we may
not
foresee the
be classed
if
among
the
inferior,
among
the quite
secondary manifestations of a
civilisation.
be parallel to that
Whether
in
the case of
we observe
this general
level,
reached a certain
as
certain
entirely independent
72
of the
other
elements of the
civilisation.
of
new
beliefs or
art.
new
elements into
was
in this
way
that in the
Middle Ages the Crusades were the source of fresh knowledge and new ideas, which gave an impulsion
to
art
that
resulted
in
Roman
way
Gothic
was
in this
later,
the revival
of Greek
and
Latin
studies
brought
about
the
the
Mussulman
invasions
in precisely
same
fashion.
It is also
needs
in
con-
even to disappear
the civilisation
on
this
we
ITS
73
At no
The
made
an essential element of
it
periods
when
become an
which
it
is
much
time or
it
much
money.
can scarcely
the present
escape being
and
imitative.
At
day there are no longer peoples who possess a national art, and each people, in architecture as in sculpture,
lives
on more or
less
clear that
it is
admire the
nai've in
works of our
artists of the
and
Hell, all of
at the time
and the principal concern of existence; but when painters who no longer entertain these
74
beliefs
childish
symbols
of
technique
another
they
merely
produce
and destined
to arouse
contempt
in
the future.
The only
what he
feels or
what he
sees instead of
sponding to needs or
beliefs
we have ceased
to possess.
The only
day
is
that
which reproduces the things by which we are surrounded, just as the only sincere architecture
is
that
This
utilitarian art
civilisation.
For the archaeologist of the future the great modern caravansaries and the old Gothic
the feudal castle.
it,
as
many modern
Every
aesthetic
ideal of
an
ITS
75
epoch and of a
and
that
must con-
From
view
all
The
elements of a
civilisation,
them
but
we ought
to recognise,
their thought.
element of
civilisation
is
when
it
borrows
it
from a
more
reproductions
own
imprint.
On
the contrary
it
will
transform
genius.
When
the
Romans
adopted
make
it
monuments.
76
even
in the
Romans, who were without a personal architecture, and who were constrained to go to the foreigner
for
their
models
and
their
artists,
art
is
obliged
in the course
adopted
The
and
bas-reliefs
of ancient
Rome
are
;
the work
of
of
these
monuments,
their
their
ornaments,
even
dimensions,
do
not
force,
of
mighty soul of
Rome was
it
imbued.
itself
Thus, even
least
in
shows
personal, a
was due
to
its initiative,
and
its
mental constitution
The explanation
architect
is
that
the true
the
artist,
whether
or
poet,
possesses
magic faculty of
ITS
77
but
little,
artists
mirrors
of
are
their
works
the most
exact documents
to
to
which
recourse
can
be
evoking a
vanished
civilisation.
They
to be sincere,
ings
ment.
They
fact
and the
They
are
the
sum
total of
whose
it
influence
is
all
Were we without
them
in the
we know nothing
is
related of
arti-
ficial
enigma
The
work of
78 art
and
the
ideas
of
it
birth.
Of
all
works of
art,
More
The
men and
first
We may
com-
has
created
them,
certain
of
these
elements
races
and
same race
are a
soul
is
evident that
it
is
common
standard
whereby
to
ITS
79
It is also
cannot be established
classification
among
elements of a civilisation
to say military
it
But
if this
test
were adopted,
would
artists,
after
the
Romans
and
with
invincible
cohorts, the
virtuous
learned
Hindoos
after
the
also
semi-
barbarians.
History
tinctions.
is
but
little
dis-
The only
always
bows
is
very rarely
its
Unfortunately
military
superiority
cannot decline
among
8o
when
much
civilisations
fatal.
necessary, in consequence,
it
arrive at the
is
inferior,
social
point of view.
may
what
is
most
harmful to a people.
qualities of character
and these
qualities decline
reach a high
level.
CHAPTER
HOW
II
INSTITUTIONS, RELIGIONS,
The
superior races are as powerless as the inferior races to transform suddenly the elements of their civilisation Contradictions presented by the peoples which have changed their religions, lan-
guages, and arts The example of Japan In what respect these changes are only apparent The profound transformations under-
gone by Buddhism, Brahmanism, Mahometanism and Christianity according to the various races by which they have been adopted
The
variations
undergone by
institutions
them
languages are considered to correspond represent very dissimilar ideas and modes of thought Impossibility for this reason of
translating
certain
civilisation of a
found changes
civilisations.
languages Why, in books of history, the people sometimes seems'... to have undergone proLimits of the reciprocal influence of different
"\ ~\
7 E have shown
in
the
Taking one by one the most powerful means of action at the disposal of Europeans
on them.
we have proved
their
social
si
absolute inefficacy as
82
We have
endeavoured
mental
a
constitution created
by heredity
in the course of
long past,
it
is
Such a task
is
We
it
is
who
destroyed the
rise in
Greco-Roman
civilisation, that
a people can
If
it
be sought, by means of
all
its
that
is
done
is
and
intelli-
in the
end
to a level inferior to
left to itself.
if it
had been
the
principles
it
we have
work are
correct,
ought
They,
and need
to traverse suc-
cessive stages.
seem
at times
and
ITS
83
arts differing
done
so
in
offers
us
frequent ex-
new
institutions.
Some
Buddhism
or
;
Mahometanism
yet
others
arts.
others
transform
their
language
radically
It
modify
their
it
institutions
rests
and
their
even
seems that
they
History, however,
offering
these accounts
of
habitual missions
of enduring errors.
closely studied,
it is
When
only the
names of things
To
84
time
how
the
behind denominations
remain
unchanged,
it
volumes
it
will
not be
it
Leaving
aside
is
the
numerous elements
I
of
which a
civilisation
composed,
:
shall
choose but
the
arts.
by the
arts
shall
make
show
if
the
correspond to a certain
is
to be said of their
etc.,
which
in
conse-
I shall
it
not deal here with the case of Japan, having already treated it on a future occasion.
It
subject of
would be impossible to study in a few pages a question on the which eminent statesmen are the victims of delusions which
ITS
It is
85
more
theory
in
may
the
yet
it
is
precisely
of
these
very
beliefs
proof that
to
is
civilisation, as for
an
individual
eyes.
Nobody, doubtless,
religions,
is
ignorant that
all
the great
or
Brahmanism, Buddhism,
Christianity,
Mahometanism, have provoked conversions en masse among entire races who have seemed to adopt them
on a sudden
;
is
made
of these conversions
the peoples have
is
more
the
name
itself,
and that
in
reality the
adopted
beliefs
have
undergone
the transformations
by
necessary to bring
The
the
prestige adhering to military triumphs, even though achieved at expense of mere barbarians, still remains for many minds the
It is possible to drill an army of negroes in accordance with European military principles and to teach them to handle rifles and canon, but their mental inferiority and
the consequences
it
The
varnish of European civilisation boasted at present by Japan in nowise It is a trumpery corresponds to the mental condition of the race.
will
86
them
touch
with
the
in
old
beliefs
they have
mere
continuation.
The
newly adopted
religion has
no
it
The
best
example
is
offered us
by Buddhism, which, after having been transported into China, has become so unrecognisable that the
learned took
it
at first to be an
independent religion
and were a long time before they recognised that this religion was merely Buddhism transformed by
the race that had adopted
in
it.
Chinese Buddhism
is
no
sort the
Buddhism of
Buddhism of Nepaul, which in turn is sufficiently distinct from the Buddhism of Ceylon. In India, Buddhism was a schism from Brahmanism
from
the
which preceded
differed
it,
at
it
bottom
it
in
China,
it is
was
also a
closely related.
The
is
Buddhism
manism.
varied,
it
forthcoming as well
races
to
that of Brah-
The
of
India
being
extremely
was easy
presume
that,
under identical
ITS
87
Doubtless
all
and the
Vedas
as
their sacred
books
text.
Around
these
the most
varied
beliefs
monotheism, polytheism,
of ancestors, of
the
is
fetichism, pantheism,
the worship
etc.
demons, of animals,
Were
by what
religions
of
found concern-
The
all
title
is
venein
rated
by
general nothing of
books.
taught
by these
Islamism
itself,
in spite of the
this
simplicity of
;
its
law
it
is
a far cry
The Hindoo,
For the
essentially a polytheist,
millions of
Hindoo
88
scarcely
others.
in
men which
elsewhere
success.
The Mussulmans
Dravidian
Deccan,
among
the
become
so unrecognisable
indeed
it
at all
name
mosque
worshipped.
by Islamism
It suffices to
It
contains
two very
different races
of them Mussulmans.
is
The Islamism
latter
;
of the
polygamy Koran has become monogamy among the Berbers, whose religion is scarcely more than a fusion
far
by the
rule.
Europe themselves are not excepted from the common law which obliges beliefs to underreligions of
The
ITS
89
go a transformation
As
in
India,
of the
dogmas
;
fixed
by the texts
has
remained invariable
but
these
dogmas
are vain
own
fashion.
tion
Europe
veritable
;
who worships idols fetichists, such as the Spaniard who adores amulets polytheists, such as the Italian who venerates as
;
Were
this
it
would
same
religious
book
by
different races
themselves, and
No example would be more convincing. These are facts, however, the development of which would lead us beyond our scope. We shall have to
deal
still
more
elements of
because
it
civilisation, institutions
and languages,
would be necessary
90
details that
this
work.
What
from
is
equally true in
that of institutions
one
people to
transformation.
Not wishing
I beg the reader merely to consider how greatly, in modern times, the same institutions, imposed by force
shall
demonstrate
the fact in a forthcoming chapter in connection with the different regions of America.
Institutions are the
outcome
in reality
of necessities
on which the
will
of a single generation of
men can
have no action.
For each
race,
and
for
each phase
and do
The
label a
Government bears
It
appear to
it
to be the best.
The numerous
revolu-
ITS
stitute
91
settled
point.
is
by
is
legislative acts.
role of institutions
and public opinion have ended by accepting. Institutions are moulded by these changes, but they are
not
of
in
advance of them.
The
men
by
is
institutions.
It is
rendered religious
its
is
taught to conduct
own
that
I
it
a chain.
and
shall confine
fact
it is
that even
necessarily
immense numerical
language
less
92
Modern French
is
same language
The chances
place of
have been
transformed.
in
The
transformation will be
the
more thorough
the
more
it.
met
India
example in point. The great peninsula being inhabited by numerous different races, it is not astonishing that two hundred and forty
languages should, according to the linguistic authorities,
be spoken
in
it,
some of them
differing
more
These
The
widest spread
it
among
these languages
is
has only
ITS
93
existed
for
it
is
Hindustanee, a
and Arabian spoken by the Mussulman conquerors and Hindi, one of the principal tongues of the invaded
regions.
for a
new language
brought
and am
obliged to
mental
ideas.
Were
I
would go further and would say that where peoples are different, the words considered among them as corresponding represent modes of
developments,
thinking and feeling so far apart, that in reality their
is
impossible.
How
be understood by observing
same country, and among the same race, the same word corresponds in the course of centuries
how
in the
Old words represent the ideas of the men of the Words which at their origin were the signs of past.
real things
in conse-
94
quence of changes
Recourse
is
still
had
to these
timeworn
signs, for
it
would be too
difficult to
is
no correspondence between what they represented at a given moment, and what they signify at the
present day.
evoking ideas
no
relation
to
is
This
phenomenon
The
ideas of the
Indian people are indistinct, their logic has no relationship with our own, and their words have never
had that precise and definite meaning which the lapse of centuries and the turn of our minds has
ended by giving words
the Vedas
for
in
Europe.
though
it
impossible.
It is difficult
enough
to penetrate the
thought of the
1 Talking of the numerous attempts to translate the Vedas, an eminent Indian scholar, Mr. Earth, remarks: "All these various and at times so contradictory investigations have one result ; they demon-
strate
make a
ITS
95
individuals with
whom we
live,
but from
whom we
and
on
a
are separated
by
education
to
whom
it is
kind.
examples
be,
they
suffice to
they borrow.
The importance
is
of the
in
names
in fact
sudden
this
importance
is
in
In the course
and
in
consequence
of
successive
additions,
the
His-
pays but
and when
us,
for
adopted a new
to ourselves
is
religion,
all
what we
once represent
not at
we know
96
It is
and
words from
realities.
is
The
history of civilisations
is
because, as in geology,
we
suppress the
be supposed to
element of
absorbing a new
civilisation
The
it
day what
is
has
adapted to the
one another.
Only slow hereditary accumulations allow of such assimilations. Further on, when we
come
most
among
the the
of
the peoples
of
antiquity,
Greeks,
we
many
models were
left
ITS
It
97
in
with the
have had
little
to assimi-
civilisation
;
which consti-
transformed
tution.
in
The development
infinitely slower,
the various peoples would have been one eternal recommencement, if they had been unable to profit
by the materials elaborated before their time. The civilisations created some seven or eight thousand
years ago, by the inhabitants of
the
The
arts
of
Greece owe
on the
style
The Grecian
Roman
styles, styles
whom
origin.
among common
What we have
98
is
institutions, languages,
and
beliefs.
The European
was spoken in the past on the central plateau of French law is an offshoot of Roman law, Asia.
itself
The Jewish
beliefs.
has exerted
its
Our
The
great
lineal
descendants of Ptolemy,
their influence
down
to
the
the
Egypt and
We
full,
dawn
modern
science
But
if
the source
is
the transformations
progressive or regres-
ITS
sive
99 to
its
according
it
mental constitution,
very varied
;
the elements
borrows are
and
it is
We have just
of which a civilisation
composed are
peculiar to
in
consequence they
We
is
have also
marked on
employ the same words to designate very different things, and on the other hand by historical
us
to
which lead us to take into account only the extreme forms of a civilisation, and to neglect
necessities
by which they
are connected.
When
with
we
shall
be able to show
of the
greater
precision
the succession
in the
fundamental elements
to
CHAPTER
III
are derived
its
are transplanted amid different races Ethiopians, Greeks, and Persians Primitive inferiority of Grecian art Slowits
when they
ness of
art,
evolution
art,
Egyptian
gone by the
arts
Adoption and evolution in Persia of Grecian and Assyrian art The transformations underdepend on the race and not on religious beliefs
Examples supplied by the great transformations undergone by Arabian art according to the races which have adopted Islamism
Application
of our principles to the investigation of the origin
and evolution of the arts in India India and Greece went to the same sources, but in consequence of the diversity of the races they developed arts having no relationship Immense transformations
undergone by architecture in India among the
spite of the similarity of their beliefs.
different races in
examining the
relations
INconstitution
beliefs,
of
people,
I
institutions,
its
and
its
language,
have had
to
confine
To
would be necessary
arts,
to pile
a clear
state-
101
infinitely easier.
is
Institutions
and
beliefs are
doubtful,
whose
interpreta-
obscure.
The
reality,
lies
open
Works
of
art,
and
in particular
monu-
and
it is
for this
reason that
in
my
East.
literary
documents
in the
utmost suspicion.
rarely instruct.
is
and they
rarely deceives
is
and
always instructive.
The monument
the best
mental blindness
is
who
it
may
bear.
in
what respect
arts
people, and
go
in
what are the transformations they underpassing from one civilisation to another.
102
In this inquiry,
arts.
shall consider
The
European
among
would be necessary
which would
work.
this
arts of
Egypt, and
successively
transplanted
and the
Persians.
Of
all
globe, that of
expression in the
It is
types that
saw the
light
formed.
The Egyptian
tian
arts,
architecture,
was the
The
to create for
man an
ITS
existence.
103
races, despised
What
inte-
rested
it
mummy
gloomy resting place, on mysterious hieroglyphics. Guarded in its sepulchral dwelling, vast as a palace, against all profanation, the mummy was surrounded
on the
corridors
painted
and
that
sculptured walls
of endless
its
by
all
had charmed
it
during
brief
terrestial existence.
Egyptian architecture
is
more
especially a funereal
less for its
it
and
religious architecture,
having more or
object the
mummy
For them
is
raised,
and
for
them
that the
reclined
on
and so
harmonious.
Everything about
massive because
it
this
architecture
is
stable
and
aimed at being
ot
eternal.
If the
antiquity with
which we were
that art
is
acquainted,
it
the creation.
104
races
Let us see
Let us
Egypt alone, or from Egypt and Assyria. what they became in their hands.
mentioned
with the Ethiopians.
in
we have
It
is
just
known
(that
Egyptian
history
of
the
twenty-fourth
dynasty), the
peoples of
the
main-
independence
Dazzled
by the
civilisation
of the vanquished
their
people, they
arts
;
endeavoured to copy
monuments and
but
we
These negroes
inferiority
and
in spite
of the
Egyptians,
it is
a fact that
in
it off.
There
is
no example
modern
ITS
105
modern times
in
race, this
Under a very
first
models of
its
arts
and confined
at
first
to
making crude
these
copies.
The
artistic
productions of
furnished
the
two great
civilisations
were
by the peoples of Asia Minor, the masters of the land routes that lead to Nineveh and Babylon.
Everbody
is
ranean, and
The
discoveries
how
first
came
made them
immortal.
The Greeks
this difficult
century
all
effected
during
106
The
art,
those discovered
our
Greek
art
is
still
very Oriental
the Apollo of
Tenea
and the Apollo of Orchomenes bear a singular resemblance to the Egyptian statues
;
now
becomes very rapid, and, a century later, we reach Phidias and the marvellous statues of the Parthenon
that
is
to say,
an
art that
it is
which
it
We
are
era,
may
and
us,
have been
like
but
the
pinnacles brilliant
silver
gold
tells
make
and guarded by sculptured bulls. In any case, we know that the type of the most ancient Greek Doric
ITS
107
met with
in
Egypt
at
column are
that these
at
but
we
also
know
to
to
models.
At another extremity
will offer us the
Persia did
which to create an
So
far
The
who
succeeded, five
before
our
era,
is
in
taking possession of
the
Eastern world.
The
their
Greeks,
turn,
who were
not
to wield the as
yet.
supremacy
in
did
count
The
Persian
civilisa-
io8
was overat
thrown
by
Alexander,
whose
conquest
once
of
civilisation
Without an
art of their
Egypt and
from
the
and
models
conquered countries.
Their
empire
having lasted
moment
of their
The
ruins
still
standing,
We
doubtless meet in
fusion, or rather
but
new
with
if
not as
lofty, as that
This supposition
the
is
supported by an examination of
monuments
centuries later.
To
of
the
ITS
109
that of
the
century by
these
new
architecture,
offer
and when
it
again raises
monuments they
an
combination of Arabian art with the ancient architecture of the Achsemenides, modified
by
its
comthe
bination
with
the
somewhat
Grecian
art
of
of
the
It
fagade,
enamelled
bricks,
ogival
etc.).
was
this
new
Mongols
in their
In
the
preceding examples
we
although
it
had centuries
at its disposal,
we have
made
to return to an
insufficient
endowed with
brain capacity.
no
superior
art.
In the case of
who were
limited in
the matter
great skill
of
time,
cited, there
are
many
more modern, of which the specimens are still standing, and which show the magnitude of the transothers
formations a race
borrows.
is
compelled to
it
typical, in
refer to the
Mussul-
mans.
When
the
Arabs
possessed
themselves
of
the
the
Byzantine architecture.
it
At
first
mosques both
of
The mosque
Omar
at Jeru-
ITS
in
salem, that of
still
Amrou
at Cairo,
monuments
to century.
We
"
changes in our
Arabs."
trace
They
no
of resemblance between a
monument
of the
mosque of
Amrou
at Cairo (742),
close of the
mosque of Kait-
Bey
the
(1468).
We have shown
Islam
Spain,
in
diagrams
rule
of
Africa,
Syria,
Persia,
India
the
monuments
it
present
differences so con-
siderable that
is
them
for
These
the
radical
differences
in
the architecture of
Mussulman
countries
the
same
it
as profound as
it is
on
ii2
If this assertion
exact,
by different races, even in the face of identical beliefs and unity of political domination. This is precisely
the
phenomenon
it
that
is
observed
in
India.
in
It is in
India that
is
easiest to find
examples
support
it
am
history.
At
by
to
travelling from
possible
go from age to age and to gaze on the still existing series of successive stages which humanity has had
to traverse to reach the higher levels of civilisation.
its
Nowhere can a
evolution of civilisa-
by applying the principles developed in the present work that I have attempted to solve a
It is
The
subject being
ITS
113
very
little
known and
constituting
an interesting
we
shall here
sum up
in
its
most
essential lines. 1
As
regards the
arts,
India
does not
make
Its
its
appearance
oldest
monuments, such
scarcely date
back
before
our
era.
When
Persia,
they were
majority of the
and Assyria, even that of Greece itself, had terminated their cycle and entered the night of
decadence.
replaced
master.
all
the others.
which emerged so tardily from the shadows of history, was in a position then to borrow much
India,
from anterior
however,
in
civilisations.
The profound
and
the
isolation,
which
it
was
lived,
country
had
always
its
originality of
1
which cannot even be touched on here I shall Les Monuments de flnde^ one vol. in folio, illustrated by four hundred plates from my own photographs, plans, and drawings (Didot). Many of these plates are given on a reduced scale in my work Les Civilisations dans F Inde, 4to, 800 pages.
details
refer the reader to
For technical
my work,
n4
relationship with
hypothesis of borrowings
set aside.
Indian
monuments
display a superiority of
Works
and
of so high a degree
The
of the north-west
statues
of the peninsular,
clearly
of
debris
of
and
monuments
revealing
Greek
influences,
to
had ended by inducing Indian antiquarians believe that India had borrowed its arts from
Greece.
The
monuments
still
existing
in
Greek
civilisation,
borrowed none of
its
arts
this source.
The
differences
ITS
115
was too
patible for
them
to
The
examination
ancient
monuments
no relationship between
its
arts
and
those of Greece.
are
full
the
monuments of India present absolutely no such elements. The most superficial study proves that we
are in presence of extremely different races,
and that
anti-
is
monuments
more thorough and penetrating study is made of the of India and of the inner psychology of
It is
soon observed
it
Hindu genius
influence
is
to undergo
foreign
at
variance with
its
thought
by
force
it
may
be supposed to
last, it
It
would seem as
were
barriers
as
great
as
the
formidable
n6
obstacles
by
nature
between
of
the
great
peninsula and
the
is
other
countries
the globe.
is
Even
architecture,
where
it
is
nevertheless difficult to
quick to
reveal
itself.
It
is
possible,
no doubt,
to
make
Hindu
architect
rapidly into a
column which
Even
is
now
daily observable.
Hindu
artist
be given any
its
European model
form, but
to copy, he will
adopt
general
he
will
exaggerate
the
certain
parts,
details,
and
so
all
ornamental
the Western
characteristics
and
will
have become
exclusively Hindu.
The fundamental
tecture
ture,
characteristic
of
Hindu
Hindu
archilitera-
which
Hindu
an
architecture
an
overflowing
exaggeration,
ITS
117
infinite richness
the
It is
it
more especially
in
of India that
plastic
is
mental
constitution,
for
clearest of languages
those
interpret them.
If
the
appeared
the
bas-reliefs
of
their
suffice
tell
monuments would
What
they would
us
They would
make
us
understand
never
why
other
Grecian influence in
than
transitory
it
India could
be
imposed by
force.
point of view of
us to confirm
by
revealed immediately
by
Hindu
genius.
two cen-
n8
communiwhose
making
it
take root.
official art,
which bore
no
it
among whom
had been introduced, always disappeared with the Morepolitical influences that had given birth to it.
over
it
to the
Hindu genius
art
to
even
was imposed by
in the in the
No
traces of
they would be
possible to pass
to be
them
over.
aspect which
is
which
at
The disappearance
sudden as
its
apparition,
it
and
this
very suddenness
art, officially
was an imported
ITS
119
way from amongst a people they transform themselves, and the new art always borrows somethat
thing from
of which
it
Greek
art
as
European monuments erected in the country by the English during the past two centuries.
The
arts
may
be compared with
there eighteen
centuries
ago.
It
cannot
be
denied that
of
aesthetic
we have
sentiments,
the
Mussulman
arts,
European
Even
rare to
come
some
traces of
Arabian ornamentation.
Doubtless, as in
see rajahs
King Kanishka, we
attracted
selves
themstyle,
European palaces
the
Greco-Latin
120
but
this official
is
totally
art,
by
side, like
European
but
and Hindu
ever
art at the
present
another.
day,
without
influencing
one
So
far as the
monuments
is
of India properly
of which
general
it
it
offers,
aspect
whatever,
however
ment.
itself
striking,
and
it
the incompatibility
soul of the
we have pointed
and not to a
two
races,
sort of incapacity
art,
for the
itself perfectly
able to assimilate
its
arts
that
corresponded to
The
which
archaeological
able to collect
show
that Persia
its
India
derived
arts
not
the
slightly
ITS
121
of
known
of
that
when
Achae-
the
new
art,
had
produced
still
remarkable works.
We
show us by
their
bulls,
and
had
mingled
borrowed
its
arts
it
borrowed them
Persia itself
in reality
The study
monuments of India
reveals the
for the
Hindu genius
is
adapt themselves to
that they soon
it,
Why
is
it
itself
so
incapable
of
whatever
from
122
Greece, has
to
The
reason evidently
its
is
that
Persian
arts
corresponded to
mental
structure,
to the
genius,
decoration,
and the
Moreover,
it
is
Egypt and Assyria, exerted an influence on India by its arts. When, many centuries later, the Mussulmans
appeared
its
in
and
it
brought to India
in
still
The
gigantic door-
mosques are
lined externally,
are vestiges
so
well,
ITS
race
123
its
mode
through
India
the
medium
of Persia
linked.
common
treasure,
and
Chaldaea.
effected
The borrowings of Greece were through the medium of the Phoenicians and
;
the
medium
of Persia.
The
in
Greece
this
way
to a
common
very different
race.
directions, in
If,
harmony with the genius of either however, as we have asserted, the art of a
correspondence with
its
race
is
in close
mental constitu-
tion,
and
if for this
we should expect
to
that
India,
is
a country
in
posses-
124
sion of very
and of
styles of archiin
An
how
entirely this
is
the case.
are
monuments
monu-
ments we
that
is
make
and
is
based on regions,
on
is
quite independent
who have
con-
them have belonged. There is no analogy between the monuments of the north of India and
same period by peoples professing a similar religion. Even during the Mussulman domination, at a period,
that
is,
when the
was most
maximum,
the purely
Mussulman monuments
The mosques
of
Ahmeda-
same
cult, offer
much
which connects
monument
Gothic period.
ITS
125
It is
way
or
in
If the bas-reliefs
the
already manifest.
It is
plainer
still
when
or,
again,
The
It
is
influence
of race
is
everywhere apparent.
most
is
which, as everybody
to another.
distinguish
between a
carved
wood
of
Mysore workmanship and a coffer that hails from the Guzrat district, or between a jewel from the
province of Orissa and a jewel from that of Bombay.
Doubtless
Oriental
the
architecture
is
of
India,
like
;
all
architecture,
principally
religious
but
however great
in
religious influence
may
is
be, especially
the
East, the
influence
of race
much more
considerable.
126
and
arts
civilisation
under consideration,
It
is
action
is
always perceptible.
no other force
weight
of
can prevail.
thousands
thought.
represents
the
dead
of
of generations,
the synthesis
their
BOOK
III
BOOK
III
CHAPTER
HOW THE SOUL
always determined by
its
mental constitution
the political institutions of France are the outcome of the soul of the race Their real invariability beneath
How
Our most different political parties their apparent variability pursue identical political ends under different names Their ideal is always centralisation and the destruction of individual initiative
to the profit of the State
How
executed the programme of the old monarchy the ideal of the Anglo-Saxon race and the
Latin ideal
The
in its
main
lines
may
be regarded as
constitution
30
their aquatic
history appears
by
hazard.
On
the
when we
its life is
a people,
able consequence of
psychological characteristics.
life
In
all
of a people,
we
own
more
destiny.
It is
It
will
be easy for us to
prove
Let
us, to
one of
most profound upheavals, a country a few years the political institutions seem
in
which
to have
changed most radically, in which the parties seem If we consider from the psychothe most divergent.
logical point of
opinions,
these
we
common
substratum
ITS
131
ists,
Socialists, in a
most diverse doctrines, pursue, though they give themselves different names, an absolutely identical
end
:
by the
State.
is
What
they
all
life
of
thus
freeing
them
from the
reflection
glimmer of
and
initiative.
at the
of no importance
this authority,
ideal,
whatever
it
and
this ideal
same expression of the sentiments of the soul of the race. 1 And the race would tolerate no other.
the
new Government
will
render our
us to be always changing
"
civilisation,
unless
it
be
Government."
132
our race
is
The unconscious power of the soul of such that we do not even perceive the
if
illusion of
Nothing assuredly,
sidered,
is
more
different
by
the
however, the
did
Revolution, though
doubtless
unawares,
archical
no
tradition,
work
of
centralisation
previously.
rise
by the
some of the
realisation,
which accompanied
it
its
to be in rigorous con-
and
their
of this
They would
declare
known was
They
would further note that none of the various regimes that have succeeded one another in France for a
century past
has
this
ITS
133
work, so entirely
tion, the
Doubtless
phantoms,
in
consequence of their
criticisms,
some
would
created
is
it
in
the
State an impersonal
power
that
more
is
redoubtable
than
the
old
nobility, since
touched by
political
changes,
is
in
possession of
it
is irre-
becoming the
I
master.
However,
fancy, to
on
and very tyrannical the innumerable regulations, the thousand and one obligations which surround at the
present day the most insignificant acts of existence,
134
initiative,
we
shall find
spontaneously,
and without
any
fresh
But
its
when
their
allow
Thus
it is
a people
laws which
we have attempted
to determine.
The
names and
appearances.
The fundamental
laws
contrast that
race,
whose psycho-
Merely
in
consequence of
lonstitutions
at their head a
mom
ITS
their
135
government
minimum and
maximum,
of
private
individuals carried to a
a state of things
which
is
Latin
ideal.
Harbours,
ments,
railways,
educational
establish-
etc., will
of the State. 1
possess
a people which
does
its
conceivable that
it
should be otherwise ?
We
shall
consequences
if
it
of
its
mental constitution
influence
it
or
is
only
for a brief
moment,
for
an instant to be
It is
a childish
chimera to believe that governments and constitu1 This preponderance of individual initiative should more especially be observed in America. It has singularly decreased in the last twentyfive years in England, where the encroachments of the State are becoming more and more marked.
136
The
destiny of a people
lies
in
itself,
and not
in
exterior circumstances.
government is that it shall be the expression of the sentiments and ideas of the people it is called on to
govern, and
that
it
exists,
it
is
are no governments
are absolutely
good or absolutely bad. The government of the King of Dahomey was probably an
on to
constitution
This truth
who imagine
mode
of government can be
would be as
the
air,
wish to persuade
fish to live in
is
under
practised
by
all
By
an identical regime.
and the English, the Slav and the Hungarian, the Arab and the FrenchIrish
The
difficulty
ITS
137
have
always
been
condemned
an
ephemeral
existence.
When
is
and
it
in
consequence
separated
by such
was impossible that they should unite against the foreigner and it was on the other hand
rivalries that
;
live
under
own
laws.
Many
history
written, indeed
would have
from quite
sidered
new
standpoint,
if
it
were
desired to
show
all
of politics and
this
education.
It
study
if
of their race,
if
the
by the
CHAPTER
II
THE COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND OF THE SPANISH-AMERICAN REPUBLICS
The English
character
How
Severity of the selection resulting from the conditions of existence Forced disappearance of the inferior elements The negroes
and the Chinese Reasons of the prosperity of the United States and of the decadence of the Spanish-American republics in spite of
Inevitable anarchy of the Spanishidentical political institutions American republics as a consequence of the inferiority of the
characteristics of the race.
T
to
HE
brief considerations
sion of
it is
change
their
impossible for
to
to
change
their essence.
We
are
now going
138
show by very
precise
139
its
destiny,
and how
insignificant
by
shall
go
for these
examples
to a country in
which
by
side,
ment but
slightly
different,
two
European races
This
refer to
America.
formed by two
by an isthmus.
tinents
unlike.
is
The
not at
all
One of them
by the English, the other by the Spanish two races live under similar republican
since the republics of
These
institutions,
modelled
1
their institutions
English sociologist, Herbert Spencer, had neglected works the influence of the character of peoples on their destinies, and his admirable theoretical syntheses had led him at first to Having decided as he became older to very optimistic conclusions.
illustrious
The
in his great
earlier conclusions,
and has
finally
been brought to
them extremely
pessimistic conclusions.
We
find
them
expressed in a recently published discourse on Tyndall, reprinted in Here are some extracts the Revue des Revues.
:
"... My
are going back to the by the bureaucratic despotism of a socialist organisation, and then by the military despotism which will succeed it, supposing this latter not to be realised suddenly as the out" come of some acute social crisis.
siderably diminished of late years. regime of the iron hand represented
We
140
States.
different
we have nothing
to
go on
results
To
begin with,
let
characteristics
no
race, perhaps,
is
it is
mental constitution
lines.
main
The dominant
a degree of
energy,
very
great
initiative,
absolute
self-
control, a sentiment of
immense
activity,
very
From
it is
impossible
to say to point
There
is
little
to note
beyond a
ITS
141
those
who
from
losing
their
way
in
chimerical researches
but
of
little
mind which prevents the recognition of the weak sides of religious beliefs, and in consequence ensures
those beliefs escaping discussion.
To
complete optimism with regard to the path the individual has traced himself in
life,
chosen a better.
He
is
is
demanded of him by
This optimism
is
Gods.
whatever
is
Con-
tempt
and
his
customs certainly
by the
Romans and
So great
is it,
There
is
not an
English statesmen
consider as perfectly
mous indignation
if
This contempt
for the
142
but from
it is
extremely
useful.
As Lord Wolseley,
the well-known
it is
one of the
It
make
has
remarked
to
which would
facilitate
much
trouble as the
foreign influence.
grades
it
would be impossible to light on any element of English civilisation on which they have not left their
mark.
The
foreigner
is
who
visits
England,
if
only for
a few days,
at
once struck by
this fact.
life in
He
will
the cottage
of the most humble employe, a confined dwelling, no doubt, but in which the householder is exposed to no
restraint
and
is
in the
is
free to
penned
in, like
a flock
ITS
143
employe, as
amount of
attention necessary to
He
workman, or
of the schoolboy,
left
to
himself while
still
quite
in
the
course of
nobody
will
be concerned
set
in the schoolmasters,
who
compara-
store
When
he studies
it is
the public
life
not
is
it
is
a case of repairing a
will
this
Entrusted by the Queen of England with deciding the conditions on which the annual prize given by her to Wellington College should
scholar
be awarded, Prince Albert ordered that it should be granted not to the who had done best in his studies, but to the boy of best character.
In the case of a Latin nation, the prize would certainly have been given to the pupil who repeated best what he had learned from his books. All
our education, including what "we term higher education, consists in making our youth recite lessons. The scholars retain the habit to such
a degree that they continue to recite them during the rest of their
existence.
144
make
it
the most
is
the
it
is
itself,
minimum
of action to
its
it
government.
be studied,
it is
seen that
was the
first
As
contrasted
the
Roman
work of absolute
sacrifice
sovereigns,
;
the individual
work of the
will of the
individual."
To whatever
may
ance,
emigrate,
it
and found powerful empires. If the race it invades, as in the case of the Redskins of America,
for
example,
it
is
sufficiently
utilisable,
will
be methodically exterminated.
is
capable
will
simply be
ITS
145
of
its
masters.
It is
more
especially, however, in
new country
be studied.
sparsely inhabited
it is
notorious
what
its
among
I
match
for
it.
advise those
who
sum
expended by the
MM. Rousier
and Paul
The
create towns,
minimum,
that
it
no public authorities
exist.
Apart from
matic representation,
is
even
what
an individual to
146
have just
and
this
is
why
mind of
the race.
The
the individuals
who do
condemned
to disappear at
an early date.
Only the
Anglo-Saxon can
live in this
atmosphere saturated
The
Italian dies of
most humble
is
fraternity, those
made
;
its
iron
it
arm more
precisely
It
is
unpitying
pity
but
is
it
because
tributed
ignores
that
its
the race
has conenergy.
to
form
retains
for the
power
and
There
is
no room
incapable on the
soil
By
the
mere
fact that
they are
The Redskin
condemned
147
fate.
The law
application
would
entail.
by a methodical
mining
voted,
districts.
destruction, already
begun
in several
Other laws
pauper
have
recently
to
been
forbidding
territory.
emigrants
land
on
American
As
the
to the negroes
who
served
War
of Succession
slaves,
a war
own them
fill
they
are
almost
tolerated
because they
none
but
subordinate
positions
to accept.
which no American
citizen
would consent
;
who
become dangerous.
Lynch-law
their
case.
The summary
recogfirst
proceedings of
nised
to
are
universally
their
meet
At
crime
Statistics,
The Fifty-third Congress only adjourned the execution of the Geary law (Chinese Exclusion Act) because it found that to convey a hundred thousand Chinamen back to their country would involve an expenditure
of thirty millions of francs, whereas the
the Chinese
sum voted for the expulsion workmen was only one hundred thousand francs,
of
148
which
tions,
include
portion
for
of
these
last
execuseven
over a
thousand
the
years.
enough
to support them.
were
it
might
first
represents the
maximum
of
what
official
maximum
of what can be
all
effected
by
official regulation.
These fundamental
differences are
It is
not
on the
soil
of the rude
The
can only
prosper
among
capacity for
self-government.
We
1
in
The America
it
is
to-day, but
We
recent invasion by an
into
immense
civil
elements, by a gigantic
division
war, which
may be
followed by
fighting
its
several
amongst
ITS
149
severance, energy,
for us to
and strength of will. It remains show what has become of an almost similar
the hands of another race, which, though
country
in
natural productions,
Twice as
large as Europe,
The dominant
population, which
is
of
:
Spanish
origin, is
political constitution of
in
consequence under
fact that the
And
yet,
by the mere
race
is
different
qualities
all
these
they are
and economic
disaster, of
To
150
and impartial work on the subject of Th. Child must be read. The causes of this decadence lie
entirely in the mental constitution of a race possessing
The
all
we
know
that
is
worst in Europe.
to
one
of
the
least
degraded
If this
that
is
to
As
no better example of
was of great
know
among an
"
These
countries,"
M. Child informs
are
us
under
of
Presidents
who
exercise
an
autocracy not
less absolute
ITS
all
151
the Russias
to
more
nothing
influence
officials
fear
from
the
importunities
and the
of European
are
;
.
censure.
The Government
amongst
their
solely
.
recruited
from
creatures
no account
Republic
is
is
The Argentine
;
a republic in
in the
name only
in reality
it is
an oligarchy
commerce of politics."
Only one country,
escaped
this
Brazil,
had
to
some extent
a monarchical
decadence, thanks
to
This constitution,
will,
The
result
is
that the
country
is
In the lapse of a
had
to be increased
it
cent.
Naturally,
is
only
that
the
decadence
is
South America
peopled, but
well.
in
all
the other
elements of civilisation as
these
Left to themselves,
revert
to
hapless
republicans
would
pure
is
barbarism.
commerce
in
152
Germans.
if
the foreign
were
to
disappear.
It
still
thanks to the
still
deceives Europe.
The
important industry.
race, left to
compared with the prosperity of the English race in a neighbouring country, is one of the most
sombre, the saddest, and, at the same time, the most
instructive experiences that can be cited in support of
have enunciated.
CHAPTER
HOW THE
AFFECTS THE
PEOPLES
The
III
EVOLUTION
OF
and
influence of foreign elements at once transforms the soul of a race, in consequence its civilisation Example of the Romans
Roman
civilisation was not destroyed by military invasions, but by the pacific invasions of the Barbarians The Barbarians never formed the project of destroying the Empire Their invasions were not of the nature of conquests The early Frank chiefs always con-
Roman Empire
They
always respected Roman civilisation, and their aim was to continue it It was only from the seventh century onwards that the Gallic
barbarian chiefs ceased to consider the
Emperor
The complete
transformation of
Roman
civilisation
consequence of a work of destruction, but of the adoption of an ancient civilisation by a new race The modern invasions of the
United States
The
civil strife
States into independent and rival States to which these invasions will lead The invasion of France by foreigners and their con-
sequences.
THE
examples we have
cited
show
that the
on
on
its its
institutions,
but on
its
character
153
that
is
to say,
154
race.
We
further saw,
when studying
the formation
is
the result
the
Aryans, for
example,
in
who
have always
foreigners.
carefully
avoided
intermarrying with
The
foreigners, even
small numbers,
it
is
sufficient
to
causes
it
to lose
its
its
capacity for
race, the
monuof
its
ments of
ancestors.
its
history,
and
the
achievements
all
of what precedes.
is
people changes,
The
what indeed
occurs,
and
many
other such
The
tion
is
progressive transformation of
Roman
it is
civilisa-
possible
to invoke.
ITS
155
barians
was
pacific
and not
of the
fall
Empire
far
Roman
civili-
sation,
their efforts
They essayed
to appropriate the
arts
language, the
institutions
and the
of
Rome.
Down
reflected
in
all
the acts
Emperor
Charlemagne.
We
been impossible.
several
crosses
and
way homogeneous
possessed, merely
and when
this race
institutions,
and
in con-
The mighty
deeply
efforts
traditions of
this
Rome
left
their
impress
the
marked on
to
civilisation,
but
various
revive
the
156
civilisation
Rome
itself
to bring
back
its institutions.
successively
invaded
the
in
civilisation.
Had
ever
in
Roman
It
its
soul.
may
be
the
Roman
civilisation
has
never been overthrown, but has simply been continued, transforming itself in the course of ages
by
its
having
hands of
A
is
amply
was
the
pacific
and
not
the
aggressive
pay of the
ITS
157
dis-
empire
that
Rome.
As
early as the
gained ground
richer
in
proportion as the
Romans became
service,
till,
were none
:
army
as in the administration
The
Roman
Empire."
in
to
its
and when
it
barbarian chiefs,
more independent.
in this effort,
it
They
were,
indeed,
successful
empire, even
when Rome
fell
into
their
power.
When
of
one of these
Rome
in 476,
whose residence
at this time
was Constantinople,
title
for
his authorisation to
of
Patrician.
ently.
It
None
was always
name
of
Rome
that they
158
Roman
functionary,
title
and
of consul
they were
observed.
The beginning of
the
bearing their
own
effigy.
only
from
this period
onwards that
it
emperor as
the history
In
fact,
the historians
make
Nothing
less
and
their laws,
which
is
never
the
disappearance
it
of
the
authority of
Rome was
by
the
so gradual, that
took place
unperceived
people
of
the
period.
The
ITS
159
governed
emperors.
chiefs
in
by
chiefs
acting
in
the
name
of the
their
came
on
their
own
account.
Nothing
continued under
ingian period.
1
The only
real change,
it
ended by becoming a
new
consequence
the birth of
we have
set forth
new
civilisation.
same
we
contemporary history
those which
analogous to
brought
Roman
sion of
civilisation.
modern
civilisation,
may seem
that nowa-
far
from us to be very
The Merovingian government," declares M. Fustel de Coulanges, " was in the main a continuation of that which the Roman Empire had
There was nothing feudal about the government of given Gaul. the Merovingians,"
. . .
"
160
redoubtable.
invaded by them
will
and
I
if
it
only be, as
have shown
another work,
but
be very distant,
than at the
is
far closer
time of the
exist
in
Roman
emperors.
The
fact
that they
the very
bosom of
civilised
nations.
In
of
our
modern
and of that progressive differentiation of individuals to which I have referred, each people
contains an
immense number of
inferior
elements
a civilisation
results
There
an
enormous waste population, and the peoples who come to be invaded by it will have reason to dread
the experience.
At
it is
new
common
accord, and
is
seriously threatened.
So long
scale,
was on a small
and composed
ITS
161
its
has brought
The
received
nearly
six
of emigrants,
almost
exclusively composed of
workmen
of every nationality.
The population
Irish,
There
is
no
They do not even take the trouble to learn the language of their new country, in which they form
mere colonies engaged in badly paid occupations. They are discontented and in consequence dangerous.
During the recent railway strike Chicago narrowly escaped being burned down by them, and it was
necessary to
fire
on them
pitilessly.
It
is
solely
among
that
barbarous
and
levelling
socialism,
which
is
is
quite
The
which socialism
is
162
in
the
civil
war that
is
foreigners, the
triumph
will
end
in
a hecatomb reproducing on an
of the
immense
Cimbrians
scale
If the struggle is at all by Marius. delayed and the invasion continues, it will become
will
Roman Empire
that
is
to
Spanish America.
America
these
is
invasions.
is
There
is
one
State
in
Europe,
It is
France, which
menaced
in the
same way.
rich country, whose population does not increase, surrounded by poor countries whose population is
constantly increasing.
The immigration
of these
it
neighbours
is
inevitable,
is
ITS
163
working
classes,
The advantages
are evident.
these
are
soil
They
nomads they have few or no taxes and the work is easier and better paid than
foreign
to pay,
in their
native territory.
riches,
is
that
it
is
naturally the
most
elements,
own
Our humanitarian
principles
condemn
foreign invasion.
in increasing hordes.
in respect to
the
number of
Italians
contains, Marseilles
might
number of
if,
Italians.
is
that
to
time
will
164
tion
third
Italian.
What
the existence of a
The worst
infinitely less
disasters
on the
battlefield
1
would be
It
was a
dread foreigners
tion of a country
its
Once more we
historical
racial
1
find
that
at
the bottom
lies
of
all
and
social
It
questions
all
the
inevitable
problem.
invasions
is
dominates
the others.
phenomena it
being the consequence of certain economical impossible to control, they cannot be prevented. Still, certain measures might be taken which would at least check them
:
These
obligatory military service in the Foreign Legion for all foreigners less than twenty-five years of age and counting two years' residence ; military
tax on the older immigrants almost entire suppression of naturalisation ; tax amounting to a quarter of the income or salary on all The Deputy foreigners established in France for less than fifty years.
;
who
BOOK
HOW
IV
BOOK
HOW THE
IV
CHAPTER
THE ROLE OF IDEAS
The
IN
leading ideas of each civilisation are always very few in number Extreme slowness of their birth and disappearance Ideas do not influence conduct until they have been transformed into sentiments
They then form part of the character It is thanks to the slowness of the evolution of ideas that civilisations possess a certain
fixity
How
The
The
ever
influence
enthusiasts
and
and prestige The role of Deformation undergone by ideas as apostles the masses universally admitted idea soon
of
affirmation
It is
thanks to their
community of ideas
that the
men
sum
total of
much
alike in their
thoughts and actions The yoke of custom and opinion It is not relaxed until the critical ages of history when the old ideas are
losing their influence and have not as yet been replaced This critical age is the only age in which the discussion of opinions can be tolerated Dogmas only hold their own on the condition that
they are not discussed Peoples cannot change their ideas and dogmas without being at once obliged to change their civilisation.
having shown
that
the
psychological
fixity,
and
is
the consequence of
168
these characteristics,
for
was possible
is
the
psychological
elements,
it
for
the
in
The
on these transformations.
Various factors are capable of provoking psychological
changes.
for
life,
the
and
of
industry,
education,
influence.
beliefs,
and
have
many
them.
here.
ing,
We
We
merely return to
by the choice of a few essential factors, the mechanism of their action. It is to this study that
will
The study
development by a very small number of fundamental If the history of peoples were confined to ideas.
that of their ideas
it
When
Ilhomme
et les socictes.
Leurs origines
ii.
ITS
169
domain of the
it
may
be
brilliant.
have no
as
of character and
is
may
Character
formed
in
ideas.
When
their
power
The
religious
enthusiast
or other,
who
is
is
dominated by an
idea,
in-
accessible to reasoning,
be.
however
intelligent
he
may
-All
will
he
will
he
not
make
by
artifices
bring any idea that seems to contradict the conceptions which dominate
him, into
some
sort
of
after
having slowly
170
of the unconscious,
We
is
ought
case
;
to
congratulate
it
ourselves
it
that
such
the
were
not so
civilisations
It
is
equally
fortunate that
new
any
progress.
Thanks
transformations
many
generations of
men
are needed
new
ideas,
The
most
and
fixity.
History
is
debris
of the peoples
consequence, to understand
it
is
most striking when the history of the various peoples is studied, is not the wealth and novelty
that
what
is
of their ideas, but, on the contrary, the extreme poverty of these ideas, the slowness of their transformations,
exert.
Civilisations
are the
ITS
result
171
of some
these ideas change, the civilisations are at once compelled to change as well.
existed
conception of
At
some modification
Europe, and at
life,
begin to be transformed.
tradition
is
Then
the authority of
and
civilisation is
At
seem
definitely to
have
lost the
all
them are
The
numerous examples in illustration. Could we enter into details, we would show that each element of
civilisation
is
philosophy, beliefs,
number of leading
ideas
172
whose evolution
exceedingly slow.
The
sciences
The whole
idea
of
modern physics
is
derived
from the
of
the
the
these
ideas
shows
that,
although
the
to
persons called
upon
to appreciate
classes,
them belong
themselves
century in
rapidity,
little
and
a field of investigation
little
in
which
The
most
acceptance.
idea,
whether
it
be a
mechanism
It
of
its
propagation
first
is
always
identical.
has to be adopted at
the
intensity
apostles,
of
by whose
a small
faith
number of
and
the
authority of whose
then act
names give great prestige. They much more by suggestion than by demon-
ITS
stration.
173
The
mechanism
by an appeal
to the
exerted by appealing
let
them-
depends
person
solely
exerted
by the
who
enunciates them.
When
new
new
It
domain of
discussion.
arouses at
universal opposition,
because
it
much
that
is
it
old
are
and
established.
The
by
apostles
who defend
naturally excited
this
true
about
its
truth or falsehood
it.
have adopted
discussejd
;
The new
idea
that
is
to say, in reality it
entirely accepted
by the one side, and entirely rejected by the other side. Affirmations and negations but very few arguments,
174
for the
immense
Thanks
The new
generations
it
who
merely because
always
to
is
For
young
persons,
eager
be
independent, wholesale
is
opposition
received
ideas
the
most
accessible
form
of
originality.
The
long
it
It will
now
are
spread everywhere by the mere effect of imitaa contagion, a faculty with which
in as
tion, acting as
men
generally endowed
modern science
assigns
men
as their forefathers.
as the
As soon
mechanism of contagion
intervenes,
It
then
progressively
among
all
manner of
thinking.
Like the
ITS
175
way which
into
all
finds its
way
the productions of an
epoch.
The
idea and
its
imposed on us by education. The idea has triumphed and has entered the domain of sentiment where for
long
it
will
have nothing to
fear.
Of
example,
nation
;
rest confined
conceptions and
instances
go deep down
in
some
general
among the crowd. They arrive there in much deformed, but when they arrive there
is
of reasoning
immense.
The
invincible,
and
efforts
are propagated
banks.
It
is
always
easy to find
among
men ready
an idea as
Then
it
is
not
men
176
sophers
ruled
who
established
the religions
which have
stretched from
and
Europe.
else to rely
on but
this theoretically
nomads of
the most
known
to history.
It
was with a
idea
the domination
of an
soldiers
of
the
Convention
were
arms.
strong conviction
of
is
conviction
resisting
it
equal strength
has
is
any chance
of
victoriously.
Faith
enemy
faith
has to
fear.
It is sure to
it
triumph where
is
in the service of
If,
beliefs.
however,
by a faith of equal intensity, becomes very severe, and success under the struggle
finds itself confronted
ITS
177
these conditions
stances,
by the
spirit of
close study
to,
shows
and
most important
who
was
fairly
good.
first
country
they invaded.
All they
disposed
themselves
for
faith
Animated by an intense
strength
tenfold,
who
a
city,
had dispersed the innumerable soldiers of Xerxes. The upshot of their enterprise would have been quite
different
if
into
collision
few
It
is
centuries
earlier
Roman
cohorts.
against
is
rests
with the
side that
best organised.
The
faith of the
Vendeans
178
was the
better,
day.
who
if
who
are sceptical,
if
and
at the present
day
it
would seem as
in
the
the
is
future
belongs
to
the
Socialists,
spite
of
are
now
have
longer believe in
by which they
are surrounded on
all sides.
When
an
its
definite
form
and penetrated the soul of the masses, it constitutes a dogma, that is one of those absolute truths which are
no longer discussed. It then forms part of those general beliefs on which the existence of peoples is
based.
Its
universal character
role.
allows
it
to play a
preponderating
The
been those
in
which
tentative
ITS
179
become the sovereign masters of the thought of men. They then become brilliant beacons,
and everything they illumine assumes a similar hue.
As soon
mark on
least
full
as a
new
it
leaves
its
all
important
effect
it
it
shall
produce
its
is
From
it
heights on which
it
came
into being,
descends from
way
incessant
and modifications
it
until
it
has taken a
shape
that
is
in
which
is
to secure
its
triumph.
in a
At
this
point
it
is
account impressive.
Examples
The word
working
man one
it
i8o
penetrates, but
spite of their
rudimentary forms.
become
equal, will
enjoy ideal
felicity
under the
working
man
under
the guise of a
will
smoky tavern
to
in
serve
gratuitously
every
comer
gigantic
None among
those
who dream
either
sum
total of
what there
is
are there to
share
this
it.
The
is
essential characteristic of
it
an idea of
kind
it
that
all
raises
above
objection.
When
by
its little
come
to transform itself
little
into a sentiment,
is
triumph
it
assured for
to shake
by reasoning
be vain.
Doubtless in
new
whose place
;
has taken.
it
It will
decline
but before
is
completely used up
will
ITS
181
demand
will for
we
but which
we
nevertheless respect.
An
though
it
has
subjugated.
this
In
way
is
we
but
offer
if
we would
how many
opinions,
men
are capable of
discussing their
own
and how many of these opinions would hold water after the most superficial examination ?
It
is
better
that the
redoubtable
examination
is
Happily there
little risk
The
is
very
rare,
whereas the
spirit
a faculty very
commonly
possessed, the
immense majority of minds accept without discussion the ready-made ideas furnished them by opinion and
transmitted them by education.
It
82
tion,
men
of
when
the
them from
we
recognise
by
their artistic,
and
epoch at
which they
lived.
Doubtless
it
common
identical
modes of
feeling
and thinking,
We
thus
is
of
common
traditions,
ideas,
sentiments,
beliefs,
and
modes of thinking
We
is is
in
this
network
in
reality,
and
it
nations alive,
and
it is
impossible that
should break
It consti-
and
is
These
ITS
183
limits.
The network
in
more
especially
powerful
feebled
the
East.
amongst ourselves, retain all their empire in the East, and the most whimsical despot would never run counter to two sovereigns he knows are infinitely
more powerful than he is tradition and opinion. The modern civilised man finds himself in one of
:
new
tolerated.
He must
to get
go back
to the
'
some
an idea of the
the
and
to learn the
risks run
by innovators
The
Greeks,
whom
free,
ignorant rhetoricians
affirm to have
been so
were
strictly
Each
had a number
which were
or with liberties of
any
kind.
The
keep
citizen to
184
aloof from
The
In
society
have possessed
liberty of thought
single day.
tions,
The age
become very
weak.
in
They have
becoming pre-
judices.
idea,
As long
to
this
by a new
is
anarchy reigns
men's
that
minds.
It
only
thanks
anarchy
discussion
can
be
tolerated.
Writers, thinkers, and philosopher sought to bless the present age and hasten to take advantage
of
it,
for
they
will
not see
its
like again.
it
It is
perhaps
is
moments
in
expression of thought
free.
It is
impossible that
ITS
it
185
civili-
should
last.
sation, the
a social
European peoples are tending towards state which will tolerate neither discussion
nor
liberty.
come
The man
is
still
searching for
and therein
lies
What
neither
revolutions
nor
wars
their
ruins
are
quickly effaced
ideas.
the
The
real revolutions,
thought.
not so
much
the adoption of
as
new
ideas that
is
dangerous
for
a people,
it is
condemned before
it
on which
it
will
be able to build up
is
new
to
186
erroneous that
dangerous
but
it
is
new
appreciate
experience.
their
by
dint
of
no need
to be a
to a state of abject
;
but
how
are the
New
Gospel that
preached to them
is
not to history
that
man
goes
for
lessons.
Charlemagne endeavoured
Roman
was
not
and
his
him, as that of
later
period.
an
effort to
combat the
spirit
of free
ITS
187
name
of Protestantism.
new
of ruin
it
has
never
recovered.
own
crowned
visionary,
inspired
by the incurable
Europe
for a
The
utterly false
leading up to
its
inevitable bankruptcy.
The
socialist ideas
will
have spared.
The
may
further be cited
among
dangerous
influence has
had
war, has
armed
it
Europe in the most disastrous from one end to the other, and will
states
in
land
all
modern
succession
in
ruin
and
anarchy.
that could be
i88
invoked
largest
and most populous countries are the strongest, and run the fewest risks. It was secretly reflected
that they were the best fitted to
It is found,
embark on conquest.
it
is
precisely the
smallest
and
populous
Belgium,
countries
Portugal,
Greece,
Switzerland,
principalities
Sweden,
the
to
petty
fear
Balkan
least
The
Italy,
the Italian
amounted
It is
to 550 millions
now
men
march
of ideas
masses.
soul of the
When
this, their
evolution
by those who
will
be their
first
victims.
to the
We
When
strength of an
has attained to a
certain period of
no longer
avail
either
against
For peoples
to
be able to
free
themselves
ITS
189
necessary
sometimes
the
two.
and of which
in succession
it
victim.
CHAPTER
II
IN
THE
EVOLUTION OF CIVILISATIONS
Preponderating
influence
of
religious
ideas
They have
always
constituted the most important element of the life of peoples Religious ideas responsible for the majority of historical events and
social
and
Its
political institutions
new
It
civilisation
always comes
the religious
new
on
religious idea
Power of
directs
all
influence
character
the faculties
towards the same end The political, artistic, and literary history of peoples is the offspring of their beliefs The slightest change in the state of a people's belief results in an entire series of transformations in its existence Various examples.
AMONG
ideas
by which the peoples have been guided, the ideas which are the
the various ideas
civilisation, religious
have
played
too
preponderating
and
too
fundamental a part
chapter to them.
for us not
to devote a special
important element of
the
life
The most
191
events,
the most
colossal influence,
gods.
is
With a new
new
civilisation
At
all
in ancient
questions
If
gods to
die, it
its
might be
consequences,
would be the most important event that had taken place on the surface of our planet since the birth of
the
first civilisations.
it
must not be forgotten that, since the dawn of historical times, all political and social institutions
For
have been founded on religious
beliefs,
first
role
itself
on the world's
is
Apart from
love,
which
a powerful
it
but
personal
and
transitory
religion,
is
only
religious
beliefs
that
are
capable
of
influencing
The conquests
of the
England during the Puritan period, France with its St. Bartholomew, and the wars of the revolution
show what becomes of a people rendered fanatic by its chimeras. These chimeras exercise a sort of
permanent hypnotic
effect
which
is
so intense that
it
IQ2
is
man who
having created
They
will
as
Lucretius
affirms,
be eternal.
gift
The
it is
a gift which
now,
is
No
such an achievement.
The consequence,
of
all
if
all civilisations,
is
philosophies,
of
religions
to
engender
But of these
states of
mind
some
imply
happiness, while
little
the others
do not
and
of
spirit.
The martyrs
at the stake
much
The
street-
bread
may
be
infinitely
who
is
The
for the
modern man a multitude of wants, without giving him the means of satisfying them, and in this
ITS
193
Civilisation
is
the mother
of
progress,
but
it
is
the
by any
belief.
Compare
with his
with the
In
Oriental,
always
differ, if
satisfied
destiny.
what do they
?
when
its
mode
to
means of creating a
state of
mind which
man
happy.
All
up
to the
subjugating
men's
souls,
and
they
have
always
to
ceased
One
soul
modern times
is
the
belief that
human
outside
Happiness
scarcely
is
within us,
created
by
ourselves,
and
ever
ourselves.
ages,
we
now
finding that
14
it
is
not possible to
194
live
them must be
exist.
we would
continue to
The
true
benefactors of
humanity,
those
who
by
creators
of
ideals,
whom
it
humanity
sometimes
produces, but
whom
produces so rarely.
Above
only
realities
the glacial mechanism of the world, they have evoked powerful and pacifying chimeras, which hide from
man
From
it is
immense.
they
What makes
constitute the
their
irresistible
force
that
only
factor
In this
way
the religious
replaces
at
slow hereditary
The people
faculties
that
is
doubtless change
are
its
all
its
directed
the
ITS
195
triumph of
its
belief
and solely
in virtue
It is
of this fact
at
epochs of
accomplish
those
prodigious
efforts,
found
those
It
tribes,
unified
by the
in a
who
immense empire.
It is
Moloch, or
is
Whether the god invoked be some other yet more barbarous divinity,
It is
it
of no importance.
even well
Gods too
worshippers no strength.
The
Mahomet
world, and
redoubtable
those of pacific
durable, and
by
history.
The
because
religious spirit
then has
played a political
role of capital
it
196
The
no
doubt,
is
are
not
It
religious
spirit
it
eternal.
may
as a
slumber
for
a
is
while, but
awakes as soon
it
new
divinity
created.
century ago
enabled France to
all
resist
Europe up
in arms.
spectacle of
spirit,
what
for
it
may
was founded
at the
The
divinities that
last,
too fragile to
The power
religions
is,
by
is
Even
in cases
where the
is
manner
in
which these
beliefs are
adopted and
in the
What
differences there
same
Spain, or France,
Would
ITS
197
been possible
yoke of the
Among
is
the peoples
it
the
reformed faith
not easy to
the
in spite of
in-
The
is
political, artistic,
and
but these
latter,
while
by
it.
The
its
beliefs
destiny.
is
The
former, as regards
fundamental elements,
it
invariable,
and
it
is
pre-
cisely because
The
beliefs,
on
may
vary,
and
it is
many
in
upheavals.
the state of a
people's
The
slightest
change
an entire
series of trans-
formations in
its
existence.
We remarked in a previous
men
of the eighteenth
century seemed
those of
the
seventeenth century.
198
way
to science,
By
this
simple change
is
transformed,
find that
and were we
to follow
its
effects
we should
still
in
progress, are
religious
ideas.
Moreover,
totters
if
at the present
on
its
institutions
that
losing
more
beliefs
it
on which
have
lost
it
When
its
shall
civilisation,
founded on a new
take
place.
The
them.
There
is
of dead gods.
CHAPTER
THE ROLE OF GREAT MEN
PEOPLES
The
III
IN
THE HISTORY OF
great advances made by each civilisation have always been Nature of their role realised by a small elite of superior minds
They synthesise all the efforts of a race Examples supplied by Political role of great men They embody the great discoveries dominant ideal of their race Influence of the great hallucinated
Inventors of genius transform a civilisation the hallucinated make history.
The
fanatics
and
WHEN
differ-
entiation of races,
we saw
that
what most
Europeans from Orientals is that only Let us the former possess an elite of superior men.
differentiates
now endeavour
role of this Mite.
The
men
possessed by a
civilised
people
a phalanx
it
would
suffice to suppress
intellec-
in
200
To
it is
arts, in
word, in
all
we owe
by
all
Although they
profit
and inventors
yet
all
And
the
these
flowers of a race.
nation,
They are the true glory of a each member of which, down to the most
is
humble,
entitled to be
proud of them.
They do
They
synthesise
To
is
to favour
If
we
much
we
shall be the
Equality
wake
it is
dream of vulgar
mediocrities.
For equality
would be necessary
to bring
down,
ITS
201
little
by
little,
role of superior
is
men
in the developit
ment of a
civilisation
considerable,
is
not,
howTheir
ever, quite
what
it
is
of a race
have
slowly hewn.
who
in general are
it
very simple-minded,
name
of
man
and
electric telegraph,
it
there
is
was
created
by a
single brain.
When
it is
the
final
invention
is
only the
crowning
stroke.
sailors
to
trace
their
certainty.
Gunpowder
from
slow
trans-
formations of Grecian
fire.
repre-
202
sents the
demanded immense
it,
had
realised advances
which
it
The
it
is
neveris
the
role of great
inventors.
make
can
of
is
not
course.
The
genius of a
Cromwell or a Napoleon
a task.
and empires by
to a
and sword as a
museum
filled
structive
to the nature
ITS
203
of their
role.
The
is
only durable
when, as
the
case of
Caesar or
the
generally
much
anterior
Had he made
made
the great
Roman
In
men
are those
who have
arise,
a
of
the events for which the past has paved the way, and
who show
be taken.
This
direction,
fatalities
perhaps, was
clear
to
engage
therein
the
peoples whose
were
momentarily
They,
too,
in the
like
These analogies between the different categories of great men must not be carried too far. The inventors
play an important part in the future evolution of a
civilisation,
tory of peoples.
The
superior
men
to
whom
are due
204
which
are
the
common patrimony
the
qualities
of
possessed
of
to
is
history.
The
thinker
seem
to
efforts for
him
to attempt
to realise
Inventors
it is
a civilisation
only
powerful
religions
passions,
who
are
capable
founding
and empires.
At
men
such as
Mahomet
Greco-Roman world
in
an obscure
blood.
monk
least
like
The
voice of a Galileo or a
Newton
will never
have the
of
echo
among
the masses.
The
inventors
The
fanatics
history.
history,
as
written
in
books,
composed,
ITS
205
struggles
create
it ?
an
ideal,
to
worship
it,
and
then to destroy
And,
in the
eyes of science,
by the action of
light
of the desert?
Still
it
is
who have
effected the
most
the
From
still
inflict
the yoke of
on the soul of
races,
The importance
;
of
but, at the
same
time,
must not be forgotten that the task they accomplished was successfully accomplished because
it
people
is
only led
its
dreams.
Moses represented
which
lacerated
Buddha and
charity and
pity,
which, at
these
periods
of
world.
206
of rival tribes.
That
soldier of genius,
Napoleon,
embodied the
and
he led
pursuit
all
over
wild
Europe during
adventures.
fifteen
years
in
of
At bottom, then, it is ideas, and in consequence those who embody and propagate them that rule the
world.
Their triumph
is
assured
when they
are
it
is
the most
fanatical
chimerical
It is following and played the most important role. in the name of the most illusory chimeras that the
which seemed
not,
as
the
Gospel assures
us,
the
kingdom of
moves mountains.
who
often have to
bow
before those
who
are
ITS
207
capable of such
The
They
illusions,
but
on these
illusions,
and
vain, that
doubtless will
humanity has hitherto existed, and continue to exist. These illusions are
but
to
mere
shadows,
they
must
nevertheless
forefathers
be
respected.
Thanks
them our
knew
in their heroic
we have reached
the
to-
day.
Of
all
the
factors
in
development of
was an
was an
our gigantic
cathedrals,
and
tomb with
the East.
It is
the
religions
which
exert their
sway over
destroyed
half
of
the vastest
not in the
humanity
208
had
it
in
view
but
it
was
in
them
that
BOOK V
THE DISSOCIATION OF THE CHARACTER OF RACES AND THEIR DECADENCE
209
BOOK V
THE DISSOCIATION OF THE CHARACTER OF RACES AND THEIR DECADENCE
CHAPTER
HOW
CIVILISATIONS FADE
of
AWAY AND
How
DIE OUT
dispositions
Dissolution
psychological
species
hereditary
may
be rapidly
very long time is always necessary for a people to raise itself to a high level of civilisation, and in some cases a very The principal factor in short time for it to descend therefrom
the decadence of a people is the lowering of its character The mechanism of the dissolution of civilisations has hitherto been
the same for all peoples Symptoms of decadence presented by some Latin peoples Development of egoism Diminution of initiative and will power Lowering of character and morality
The youth
Its
dangers and
it
that undergo
it will cause the civilisations strength to return to wholly barbarous forms of evolution it
How
The
peoples
among whom
will
be able to triumph.
T)SYCHOLOGICAL
A
their
any
con-
The
ditions of
fixity of
characteristics
do not
last
for ever.
If the
2J2
environment
constitution which
disappearance.
In
accordance
with
physio-
and observed
in all beings,
was required
does not
fulfil
it.
fulfil
The
eyes of
the lakes of
ends by
becoming hereditary.
Indeed,
life
even
if
of the
individual,
thousands of centuries
formation by slow
is
rapidly
when
it
ceases to be used.
The mental
The
its
is
not
ceases
it
to
fulfil
functions,
to
and mental
dispositions
took
centuries
form
may
be
promptly
lost.
Courage,
initiative,
in
This fact
ITS
213
explains
how
is
and
in
some
When
history
is
the
always found
change
in their
cannot
mind a
intelligence.
For
all
mechanism
may
which has so
many
it
When
power
which
is
assured that
it
is
no longer
it
exposed
begins to
At
this juncture
the military
new
ideal
needs,
and
egoism
hasty
increases.
Having
no
beyond the
2i 4
State the
the qualities
barbarian, or
had made
their greatness.
Then
who
civilised people,
and proceed
to form a
new
civilisation
was
in this
way
of
organisations
the
Romans
and
Persians,
the
latter.
It
was not
in the
qualities appertaining
From
this point of
conquered.
it
It
was when
its
Rome
the germs of
approaching
decadence that
it
counted
the greatest
number of
men
of culture,
artists,
all
men
of
letters,
and men of
learning.
Almost
made
its
history.
But
Rome had
lost that
lu The evil from which Roman society was then suffering," M. Fustel de Coulanges, "was not the corruption of its morals
;
writes
it
was
its
its
will
ITS
215
The
old-time
a very
strong ideal.
Rome
was
his
absolutely dominated
and each
citizen
ready to
life.
sacrifice to
it
and
the
it
pole
of the
was invaded
and
by
countries,
whom
As
it
admitted
end to rights of
to
citizenship.
all
be allowed
little
to
enjoy the
its
concern for
The
great city
Rome.
had
It
seemed
been
be
still
alive,
but
its
soul
long
dead.
well
in
men's minds
social
conceptions
all
authority.
has shown
man
universe,
and the
utter indifference of
Nature towards
him.
liberty
He
he
is
was merely ignorance of the causes of which the slave, and that in view of the inexorable
216
necessities
slaves
is
living beings.
He
pity,
we term
realised
and
that
all
the
pitiless
progress
it
has
weak by the
conflicts in
men's
souls.
modern man.
artists
and men of
these
that
is
to
the
will,
in
an utter
incapacity to
embrace
any
cause
whatever with
and personal
interests.
reflection of a
modern
dominates
Public
contemporary
thought,"
a Minister of
satis-
Instruction
ITS
217
human knowledge is the greatest conquest of science." The conquest declared to be new is in reality very
old.
was achieved many centuries ago by the philosophers of India. Let us not be too ready to
It
it is
day
to
gain ground.
The
real
danger to modern
men have
lost
it
would
be possible to
own by
taking
its
stand on principles
Moreover,
if
it
is
name
of
The masses
to
will
who speak
all
them of
others.
To be
statesman,
soul
it is
of
to
the
multitude, to
understand
its
dreams,
and
in
Things
It is
is
needful to
know how
to act.
218
world
is
mere
states of conscience
is
evidently relative.
But when
that for a
we adopt
we can say
and
institutions
which have an
As soon
as this value
is
called
condemned
The
without
science
truths
fear,
just
for
enunciated
they are
can contest.
by them
our
authorised
voices
to believe at
social
once
system
and
the
absurdity
of
all
all
that
and leads
them
directly
to
socialism
and
anarchism.
Modern statesmen
are
too persuaded
little
of the
And
them that
latter,
and
ITS
219
them
as a foundation.
springs
of
things.
When
It
are
destroyed.
for
moment
into
a people
when
gods
repose.
it
and especially of those known as the Latin nations, and really Latin nations, if not as
European
nations,
and education.
initiative, their
Every day they are losing their energy, their will, and their capacity
satisfaction
to
act.
The
of
perpetually growing
their
material
sole
ideal.
The
family
strained.
all classes,
Like the
direct,
man wanders
at
haphazard through the spaces formerly peopled by the gods and rendered a desert by science. He has
lost
his faith,
and with
it
his hopes.
The
masses,
220
grown excessively impressionable and changeable, and no longer kept in check by any barrier, seem
fated to oscillate without intermission
between the
Words
their victims.
have
it, and they are incessantly appealing to the forge them chains. They yield blind obedi-
minded despots.
lead
The
rhetoricians
the
masses, but
who most
spirit
The
State,
whatever be the
all
It is
appealed to for
regulations
sive,
and protection, every day more oppresthat surround the most trivial acts of existence
The younger
energy, personal
efforts,
and
will.
The
slightest
They
are
content with
ITS
221
them by State-paid
classes
employment.
colonies,
The commercial
ignore
the
men by
in
terribly
empty personal
of letters
discussions, in the
by passing enthusiasms or
hatreds,
men
by a
sort of tearful,
dissertations
A
The
boundless egoism
individual
himself.
is
developing on
to be
all
sides.
coming
27, 1890,
In a speech pronounced in the Chamber 01 Deputies on November by M. Etienne, at the time Under Secretary for the Colonies,
I note the following very characteristic passage, which I borrow from the newspaper Le Siecle : " Cochin China has 1,800,000 inhabitants ; of this number 1,600 are
Frenchmen, 1,200 of
whom
are functionaries.
The country
is
adminis-
tered by a colonial council elected by these 1,200 functionaries. It has a Deputy. And you are surprised that anarchy reigns in the country (Exclamations and laughter on a great number of benches. )
!
"...
outcome
to
Are you aware what is the outcome of such a system? Its phenomenon, that nine millions out of a budget reduced twenty-two millions is absorbed by the expenses in connection with
is this
the functionaries.
"Yes,
in
1877,
number of
functionaries.
reduced the expenses by 3,500,000 francs out of a total of nine I took this measure in the month of October. millions. In De-
functionaries I
222
is
and
gradually dying
all
out. 1
The
individual
losing
He
man who
The notaries morality has at present descended to a very low level. official statisticians affirm "that notaries there is a proportion of among
43 accused persons out of 10,000 individuals, whereas the average for the whole population of France is one accused person for the same
number of
individuals."
"The disasters which the following passage as early as 1840 had begun to inspire the public with uneasiness increased progressively to such a degree that in 1876 one of my predecessors had to call the special attention of the magistrates to the
I find
:
situation
of the notaries.
The
dismissal
of
notaries
and
notarial
catastrophes were occurring with unaccustomed frequency and under circumstances of great gravity. The number of disasters rose successively from 31 in 1882 to 41 in 1883, to 54 in 1884, to 71 in 1886, and the total embezzlements committed by notaries amounted to 62,000,000
notaries were dismissed or obliged to give up their practice." If we connect with these facts the successive ruin of our most important financial
enterprises (the Comtoir d'Escompte, the
Panama,
etc.),
it
Depots et Comptes Courants, can only be admitted that the invectives of the the morality of the leading classes are not without
to be observed
among
The
scandal of the
which robbery was practised on an immense scale by politicians of the foremost rank, the bankruptcy of Portugal, the wretched financial situation of Spain and Italy, the profound
Italian State banks, in
and morality of
decadence of the Latin republics of America, prove that the character certain peoples have sustained incurable injury, and
is
nearly at an end.
ITS
223
To change
would be a hard
first
task.
It
would
be necessary to change
Latin education.
It is
of
to
all
our lamentable
initiative
fatal
any
and
may have
as
their
spared.
It extin-
by
of
giving
young people
sole
ideal
hateful
demand
efforts
memory, place in the front rank of our professions intelligences whose servile aptitude for imitation is the
negation of
"
I
all
individuality
and
all
personal
efforts.
my
pupils," said
Where among
grammes capable of realising such an ambition ? The military regime will perhaps realise it. In any
case
it.
it is
is
capable of realising
One
for
decadent peoples
and
is
more espe-
cially
due the
difficulty
224
It is
if
much
store, at
any
measure of equality
it
in servitude.
On
would be incomprehensible that republican institutions should encounter most opposition from the
enlightened classes, but for the necessity of taking
into account the weight of ancestral influences.
Is
it
all
forms of superiority,
and
intellectual superiority in
particular,
have most
?
It
might
The most
oppressive of regimes, on
intelli-
Caesarism in
for
it
its
various
it
forms.
All
that
can be said
is
that
facilitates
equality in
It
is
in
servitude.
well
adapted to the
inferior
and that
is
why
as soon as
ITS
225
The plume of the first comes along will be made the excuse for
they are able.
general that
its
its
adoption.
When
At
hour has
accomplished.
dawn
is
To-day we are
wit-
name
of Socialism.
will
as-
grievous
it
form of Caesarism,
will
being
impersonal,
escape
all
the
It will
complete a decadence
it
for
will
which many
perhaps mark
To
appreciate
it
its
dangers and
its
strength,
it is
not
the teachings
inspires.
Socialism will
whose existence
is
often
far
226
temporary
that will
people the
empty
this
heavens.
For
all
the
human
relieved
creatures
by
illusion
replace
the
them
in the past.
This great
its its
every day.
will
will
soon have
martyrs, and
it
then
stir
religious creeds
which
and whose
to a regime
all
initiative
its
and
all
independence
is
in the souls
bowed beneath
empire
gists
Such
They
see
coming
into being
most elementary good sense is But were not the religious dogmas that
have
guided
men
during so
many
centuries
also
ITS
227
man
only
by the mere fact of the mental created them by a long past, the peoples
be the signal
phase of Socialism.
It will
for
their
By
causing
civilisation to revert to
it
wholly
inferior
forms
of evolution,
by which we
are threatened.
point of view
the
is
much more
Asiatic
to
than
European,
be almost
new
religion
of
in
which we
spite
are
witnessing.
Modern
of
Germany,
of
deceptive
appearances
be
its
first
victim, judging
its
frontiers.
The
228
humanity will never produce, but this latest child of pure reason will be more intolerant and more redoubtas
able than
as
No
its
people
yoke.
is
so well prepared
Germany
to accept
No
its
people of the
initiative, its
As
to Russia,
it
Communism,
destinies.
has other
Socialism.
yet.
To
writers are perfectly agreed on this In his recent book on the Social Question, Herr T. Ziegler, professor at the University of Strasbourg, expresses himself as follows
point.
:
'Self-help' is the dominant tendency in England, recourse to the State is the characteristic of Germany. are a people that
"While
We
been accustomed
to
be under a guardian.
Moreover,
twenty years, the strong arm of Bismarck, by assuring us security, has caused us to lose the sentiment of responsibility and initiative. It is for this reason that in difficult and even in easy cases
during the
last
we appeal
State,
to its initiative."
ITS
229
reach
it
we have
to
traverse
certain
phases.
last.
It
make people
asks
regret
times
how
the
Romans
reason
civil
of the
The
is
had
and the experience had cost them their character. They had come to consider these tyrants as the
ultimate instruments of their salvation.
They put
they cannot
catastrophe
know how
to replace them.
The
truth
is
be replaced.
After
final
History always
same
circle.
CHAPTER
II
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS
**
^ TE
in the Introduction
summary, a
Each of
the
by
It is
very
difficult in
consequence to
further condense
shall
attempt, howis
whose time
precious,
A
the
race
possesses
its
psychological
characteristics
almost as fixed as
physical characteristics.
Like
is
231
To
the
fixed
and
hereditary
psychological
characteristics,
of
all
by diverse modifications of the environment. Being incessantly renewed they endow a race with a certain
measure of apparent
variability.
The mental
all
the ancestors
It
is
who
have contributed to
living but the
formation.
not the
They
of
its
conduct.
The very
great anatomic
differences
which
dis-
human
races are
accompanied by
When
only the average representatives of each race are compared, the mental differences often appear
slight.
somewhat
com-
as soon as the
parison
instituted
between
It is
the
most
elevated
232
more
races
The
posed
comone
display
manifest
equality
between
another.
of civilisation, their
members tend
to
become more
effect
and more
civilisation
differentiated.
is
The
inevitable
of
to differentiate individuals
and
races.
The
of
life
of a people and
all
the manifestations
its soul,
its civilisation
of something invisible
but
very
mined.
It
is
neither
less
and
still
institutions,
that
play the
It is
fundamental role
more
especially the
its
character
of
people
that
fashions
destiny.
The
various
elements of
the
civilisation
its
of a
mental
ITS
233
constitution, feeling
of
certain
to
modes of
and
thinking
peculiar
a people, these
all
that can be
The profound
differences
existing between
the
in
The consequence
in
is
that
they
feel,
reason
and
find,
disagreement on
questions.
Wars
of conquest, wars of
in
reality
An
agglomeration of
men
of different origin do
is,
a collective
continued
common
beliefs.
sentiments,
common
interests,
and common
Among
civilised
234
natural
but only
artificial
races
created
by
historical conditions.
Changes
foundly new
of
environment
is,
only
influence
pro-
races, that
whose ancestral
sociated
characteristics
have
become
is
dis-
by
cross
breeding.
Heredity
the only
enough to struggle against heredity. Changes of environment have only a destructive action on races the fixity of whose characteristics has
not been affected by cross breeding.
force powerful
An
to
ancient
to
enable
it
to
adapt
itself
new
environment.
The
soul
The
of
marks the apogee of the greatness of a people. dissociation of this soul always marks the hour
decadence.
its
The
Like anatomic
species,
They
die out.
possible for
appear rapidly.
It suffices to trouble
ITS
235
is
prompt
destruction.
long
in acquiring a certain
leads
them
to a high level
Together
with
character,
ideas
should
be
ac-
in the evolution
They do not
exert an
influence
They
are
time to disappear.
of a small
Each
civilisation
is
the outcome
number of
universally accepted
funda-
mental
ideas.
Religious
ideas
are
among
the
most important
The majority
humanity
The
history of
its
gods.
Such
is
236
the
dawn
new
and
decline.
their
disappearance
has
always marked
PRESS,
EDUCATION-PSYCHOLOGY
TEL.
This book
due on (fit fan <1||| ihiit^i il below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall.
is
i
DEC 24
DEC
1971
REC'D
-i
PI
APR 4 APR 4
1974
REC'D
-7PM
JUL 29
AUG
6 1987
re 45