The Fort Worth gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-189?, 1891-04-16
SHEMITIC CULTURE.
Languages Most Intimately
Connected--The Groups.
ONE VAST FAMILY GROUP.
The Birth of Relisions--Poiitical Life,
Civil Liberty, Despotism and Ancient
Laws-The Lines of Races Separated
and DIvided-Jews and Psgans.
NO. Ill
For the Gazette.

NO. Ill
For the Gazette.
From the Seventeenth century and even
from the middle ages, il has been acknow-
lodged that the Hebrews, Ph9nicians, Sy-
rians, Carlhagenians, Arabs, Babylonians
and AbyssinianS, have spoken languages
most intimately connected.
Eichorn proposed in the last century to
call these languages scientific, which may
be so termed, although most inexact.
In the beginning of this century this Eng
lish scholars, thanks to their knowledge of
sanscrit, at Calcutta and the German philo
logists. especially NJ. Bopp, show that the
ancient idioms of Brahmanic, India, the
dialects of Persia, the Armenian, many of
the dialects of the Caucasus, the Greek and
Latin and their derivitives, the Sclavonic,
the German and the Kettle form one vast
family, distinguished from the shemitic
group under the name of Indo-European.
THE ANCIENT LITERATURE
of India Greece, Persia and Teutonic ma
tions are of common stock. The literature
OF the Hebrews and the Arabs have much
in common.
The Indo European nations had from
their beginning an old code OF which the
remains are found in the Brahmans Of In
dia, in the forms of the Romans and in the
laws of the Celts, the Germans and the
Scavs.
The patriarchal life Of the Hebrews and
Arabs was governed by laws totally differ
ent. The 1ndO-European nations had In
their beginning with the same language also
the same religion this religion, the worship
of the powers and the phenomena of nature,
leading by philosophical developments TO
sort of PantheiSm.
The religious development of the shemitic
nations obeyed laws totally different. Juda-
ism, Christianity, Islamism, possess .
character of dogmatism, absolutism and
hog
them radically from the Indo-European or
as we term them, the pagan religions.
Putting China aside IS world of itself,
and the Tartar races as scourgeS acting TO
destroy the works of others, Egypt, which
is neither shemitic nor Indo-European has
had considerable part in the history OF
the world; neither is Babylon OF purely
shenitic creation.
The Indo-Europcan nations and the
Scientific nations, Il say nothing of Jews
whose singular historical destiny has given
them an exceptional position among man
kind) the MuSSelman (the Scientific mind
| is everywhere represented in our times by
Islamisml and the European are like beings
OF different species, possessing no one
habit or thought in common. What have
the Scientific nations contributed to that
organic and living whole civiliZation2 We
find first, that in political economy we owe
them nothing. Political life is that which
Indo-European nations, for they alone
nave known liberty and comprehended the
constitution of the state and the liberty OF
the subject. We never find among them
those great despotisms which reduce man
to u sort of an abstract state, nameless
function destroying all individuality, as we
see in Egypt, Babylonia, China and in Mus
selman and Tartar despotisIns.
LOOK AT THE LITTLE REPUBLICS
of Greece, Italy, and Germanic feudality,
the grand central organizations of which
Rome gave the first model and of which the
French revolution reproduced the ideal, and
you will always find a vigorous moral ele-
ment, and strong sense of the public veal.
individuality was but little secured in
Sparta. The petty democracies of Athens
and of Italy in the middle ages were nearly
as ferocious as the most venal tyrant. The
Roman empire reached (partly through the
influence of the East to an intolerable des-
potiSm.
German feudality bordered upon bri@and-
age. The French under Louis XIV. al
most emulated the excuses of the MongOl
dynasties. The French revolution fire.
quently compromised liberty III no trifing
degree, but prompt reactions have always
saved these nations from the consequences
of their errors. The Scientific east has
never known any medium between the
complete anarchy of the wandering Arabs
and sanguinary and unmitigated despotism.
The idea of the public veal or the public
good is entirely wanting in these nations.
The true and complete liberty such as the
Anglo Saxon race has realized,
grand state, such as the
Roman empire and France have
engendered have been equally uu-
known to them. The ancient Hebrews and
the Arabs have been the most free OF men
but cOnditionally subject to having on the
morrow chief who takes off their heads at
pleasure. In art and poetry what do we
owe theme Nothing in art. These nations
have but little art Ill them, but in poetry we
hold in common with them more than one
point in resem blance.
Milton, Lamartine, Lamennais would not
have existed to-day without the Psalms.
The Psalms have become in one respect
one of our sources OF poetry. In science
and philosophy we are exclusively Greek.
The search into causes. knowledge for the
sake of knowledge, Is something OF which
there is no trace previous to Greece. Baby
Ion had science but not the real elements
of science. Egypt had knowledge, but she
could not produce the elements of Euclid
Arabian science and Arabian philosophy
are often alluded to, and during one or two
centuries in the middle ages, the Arabs
were our teachers, but only for while,
until we became acquainted with the
Greek originals. When closely examined,
moreover, this Arabian science
HAS NOTHING ARABIAN
in It. It's foundation is purely Greek
Among it's originators there is not a single
true Shemite; they were all Spaniards and
Persians who wrote in Arabic.
If we examine the question of morality,
we shall find the Scientific morality very
high and very pure.
The Mosaic code contains exalted ideas Of
right The prophets are most eloquent
tribunes. We must not forget that the
morality of the gospel was first preached
in Scientific tongue. As regards industry,
invention, material civilization, we are
much indebted to the Scientific nations.
Commerce and the industrial arts were first |
carried on on grand scale by Scientific
people, or least by people speaking the !!
Scientific tongue in the Phrnicians In |
the middle ages the Arabs and Jews were |
our masters in point of commerce All the |
luxuries came from the East up to the |
Seventeenth century. There is one in |
disputable gift-a gift of the highest order, |
and which should place the PhGnicians |
nearly on par with their brothers, the |
Hebrews and Arabs, in the history Of |
progress-our alphabet This we have |
from the PhGnicians. the characters |
which we now use are, through a thousand |
transformations, the same with which the |
the Shemites first expressed the sounds Of |
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