The New York herald., 1878-12-04
Prs.e. sasm.rek.s Neurological Faila-

cies.
Saturdays HERALD from Dr. Moritz BuscL's
volumes of the Prince Bismarck's table,
talk the point of greatest importance was
the clear insight afforded into the German
Chancellors views upon the question OF
race--the great keynote OF modern politics
and craftsmanship. These views OF the
Chancellor have guided his conduct through
out his momentous career, and it becomes
q matter of extreme importance to ascertain
whether, when subjected to the keen, bright
sunlight of publicity, they prove to be
scientifically correct 1t is not a question
of sympathies. but OF facts. Nobody can
blame the Chancellor for preferring his own
race to all others, but it may be that he is
not accurately informed even upon that
topic. Ever since the disaster of Sedan
French ethnologists OF repute have dwelt
with evident satisfaction upon the thesis
that the Prussians are not really Germans,
after all, but that the basis of that nation
ality is Slavic. Deprived of rhetorical bonn
bast and of good deal of special pleading
the statement rests upon q substantial
basis Of fact. In the days of Roman suprem-
acy the territory now known as Prussia
was almost exclusively Slavic, while a
great part of what is now North Ger
many was Celtic. Although controverted
by ultrs-SaxoD writer's Of the school of
Freeman, it is nevertheless intrinsically
probable that Homer's Cimmerians, from
whom the name OF the Crimea is derived,
and the Cimbri who fought against Marius
with the Teutories and left their name to
the Cimbric Chersonese, now Denmark,
were Identical with the Cymry of Welsh ira
dition, whence the names Cambria and
Cumberland. The German argument is to
the effect that the Cimbri of Marius were so
intimately associated with their allies, the
Teutones, that they must have been Of COM
mon descent; ergo, the Cimbri were not Of
Celtic, but Of Germanic race. The premises
Of the argument are sound, but they have
recently been turned with great effect to
prove the converse Of the above conclusion
namely, that the Teutones themselves were
Celtic and that the name was adopted at
later period by Germanic invaders, from the
people whom they subdued, just as the Off
cial designation of Great Britain recognizes
the fact that the substructure Of British ma
tionality is not Germanic or Scandinavian,
but Celtic.
When Prince Bismarck contrasts the
French with the Germans, upon the assump-
ton of the Celtic character of the former,
ha of he ~
namely, that the French are quite as COM
posite race as any in Europe. 1t will
not do to call the French simply Celts;
they are Roman as well, and they are also
Germanic just 50 far as they are Frankish.
They. are, moreover, Basque, Belgian and
Scandinavian to considerable degree, but
it is upon the Romano.Celtic union that
the greatness Of France rests. The very
name of France, as derived from the
Franks, is a misnomer, for the lifeblood Of
Gaul and Gallo civilization has always re-
pelied the Frankish feudalism, which be-
came predominant in the North, and by
accidental consultations, rather than by
conquest, imposed its name upon the
whole country. 1t is well known to legal
students since the time OF Montesquieu
that modern France was divided into two
great sections as regards its local laws, the
North being the region of customary law,
the South the region Of written law. 1t is
not so we'll understood, however, that
the legal frontier was also an ethno-
logical frontier, that the inhabitants
of Northern and Southern France are really
two peoples. What Prince Bismarck asserts
of the 'sFrench," therefore, must be taken
with the qualification that it does not apply
to the people of Frankish descent, but to
the Celts, in whom he has rightly recognized
the predominant element He was wrong
in not drawing the distinction clearly, and
doubly wrong in not recognizing that it
was with the Celtic element alone that
Roman civilization became assimilated.
When the German Chancellor amuses him
self by classifying the French into ''two
nations-Parisians who rule, and provin-
ciaIs who delight in being slaves"--he just
misses making valuable generalization.
There are, in fact, two nations in France, rs
we have shown above, bu. the distinction
does not lie as between Parisians and pro-
vincals That is a purely accidental dis
tinction, one which holds to greater or
less degree between every great capital and
the remainder Of the country. When the
provincials settle in Paris they become
Parisians "with all that the name implies"
and vice versa The distinction would be
the same il Paris should exchange its
population en- masss with the smaller cities
and rural districts.
The Chancellor was upon the verge Of
stating fact OF prime Importance, when
he said that Gin 1889 the Germanic nobility
of Gaul were put down by the native Celt."
Add to the native Cel," the element Of
Roman blood and civilization, and the re-