Red Wing sentinel. [volume] (Red Wing, M.T. [i.e. Minn.]) 1855-1861, 1860-04-04
FRENCH AND GERM.Ns.

The Germans and French have
many qualities in common, notwith-
standing the hostility which has exist
ed immemorially between the two
raccs-perhaps as one cause of that
hostility. find striking coincidence
in points, in respect to which they
are universally set in wide contrast.
The assertion of the geographical
Textbook used by authority in the
schools Of France, that the French
have led European civilization out of
the dark ages, and that no idea, what
ever its origin, can become power
in the world until it has passed thro'
the alcmbic Of the French mind, finds
Il parallel in the claims put forth by
the Germans, to the possession Of a
splendid literature during the same
dark ages, and to the ori ginal enuncia-
ton OF the most important sentiments
that pcrvadc the modern world. You
will find the Germans said friend
to in Paris, "a nation of drcamcrs,
impractical spectators, unintelligible
periphrasists.'' Every day or two, l
hear some scholar Of Berlin inveigh.
ing against the super6ciality of the
French. "Thcir fire shines afar, but
it is fed with straw" The word 'tsu-
pcrfcial'' does not however, describe
a people, who have furnished fuel even
for q straw fire, and led the career OF
the French for five hundred years; nor
could an ''unpractical" people have
developed the strong governments,
a,d comfortable domestic life of the
Germans, if, on the one hand, the Pc
culiar pcrspicuity of the French Ian
guage sometimes imparts an mir of su-
pcrdoiality to very profound reflections
it is equally true, on the other hand,
that the intricate complexities of the
German construction may give the
appearance of depth and value to
quite trivial and superficial sentiments.
AS the character of both nations is
deeply tinctured with vanity, SO an air
of affectation pervades much that they
do. The French are aware of their
weakness, and with them under the
cover ofartistic devices the machinery
Of etiquette and dress, it becomes at
worst, source of amusement to the
spectator, but when the unconscious
German exhibits the same falling il
not uufrequently becomes grotesque,
The afectation of the German is shown
in his philosophy and art, not less than
his manners. He scrapes, bows, and
lifts his hat on as slight pretext as
the Frenohman; he is even more redo
lent of perfumes, sleeker with oils thar
his neighbor; but his hands are fa1
from being the cleanest, and you dis
cover perhaps the remnant of the bar
ber's lather behind bis jaw.
Nowhere else is the afRectation o
the German, so genuine as in his phil
! osophy. He persists in it, until he ha
deceived not only himself but hi
neighbors. He is like the joker VIII
\ stops at the corner Of the street il
your city, and looks at the bare side
walk so intently that q crowd collects
! and would fain see the wonder.
the joker were finally to persuad'
! himself that he had seen something
: the parallel would be complete. Their
is nothing which your German philoso
poer will not attempt. He builds ri
science Of the infinite and the abso
lutte on q basis Of verbal definitions
He makes his logical circle so large
: that, like the traveller, lost in the wood
he fancies himself progressing in
straight line. From base line unds