Daily Los Angeles herald., 1878-05-30

hei10n Ill the temperate cIlulates.
The inhabitants of northern and
mountainous regions have, at regu-
lar intervals, precipitated them.
selves on those warm and prolific
zones in which the intellect has
been developed at the expense Of
the muscular energies. The hardy
tribes which descended from Swe.
den, Norway and Denmark on
France, England and Southern Eu.
rope generally; the tribes which
have precipitated themselves from
the great mountainous "divide" Of
Europe and Asia, impartially on
Europe and Asia, have been inn
PEELED by the lust which the inhab-
liant of snow.clad chimes has for
the ease, luxury and spontaniety OF
sun-kissed lands. In temperate
zones, where the northern rigor en-
counters the southern heat, the
happiest results for mankind have
been achieved.
In this instinct we find the solu-
ton of the Russian attitude toward
Turkey ever since Peter the Great
crystalized the Mus covite into an
Empire. The hardy Muscovite to-
day experiences an irreslsti BILE
longing for the ease and abandon
which the prodigality of nature in
Southeastern Europe guarantees to
the possessor either by right of birth
Or by conquest. Should he,
In despite of the protest
of England, succeed in planting
himself, 10 stay, in the heart
of the European Provinces of
the Turkish Empire; should he,
particularly, succeed in establish.
ing himself in the capital of the
Eastern Roman Empire, for seve-
raj centuries to come most inter-
estiug problem would unfold itself
for the qualification of the political
philosopher and the ethnologist.
For many years the hardy North
ern viger would survive the bland
ishments and relaxstions of eli
mate. The heart of the Russian
empire, and perhaps the supremacy
of the old world, would be trans
ferred to the spot that Constantine,
in the old days, thong bit nature
had marked out for the capitol of
the world, as he knew it. 1t would
require several centuries, at least,
before the fixity of Northern pur-
pose would be relaxed; and, in a
soil and climate of such unsur-
passed spontaniety, We should wit
ness wonders of energy and pro.
duction before the story of the
Paleologi would be repeated. 1t
must never be forgotten that it re-
quired more than thousand years
to exhaust the energy of the Ro-
man transplanted to Byzantium.
There was never o more epic con-
test than that in which the last of
the Paleologi, somewhere about the
time Columbus discoveredAmerica,
yielded up his Empire to the en-
croachnen of the Turkish Sultan.
The Turkoman, transplanted to
Southern Europe, and having
himself in the Bosphorus and the
Sea Of Marmora, has not shown a
third of the vitality of this original
Roman colony.
1t is hard to realize, in face of The
physical and martial degeneracy of
the people of Italy, now to be res
directed, let us hope, both as to
physical vigor, military prestige.
and significance in the affairs of
the world, that its people once
ruled almost the whole known
globe. There are American towns
which lie in the latitude Of Rome.
1t is a mistake to suppose that
the climate of Italy is an en-
ervating one. Had it been so, the
marvels of Roman achievem ent
would never have been told by the
historian. The Roman legions
were Once the hardest and most
inyincible in the world. At re-
move of fifteen hundred years
from the battle of Actium the
Spanish infantry was ack nowledg-
@ 10 he the finest in Europe. And
yet there are many people who to-
diy think that the climate of Spain
is enervating, and. this notwith-
Standing the fact that the marin
ers, discoveries and conquistadores
OF Spain were almost the most
epic characters with which the
history of nankln is converse ut.
The ebb aud flow of these grand
peoples is almost as inexplicable,
and is quite rs interesting, as the
movement Of the tides.
In the United States, on the sup.
position that we hang together FIR
a considerable period, the most in-
teresting problems of race and clI-
mate will bs worked out. Short
OF the tropics we have almost every
range OF temperature aud our ter
ritory includes large semi-tropical
belts. We have in New England
almost the conditions of climate
which precipitated the hardy
Northerner on his luxurious neigh
bors in Europe, and which gath