The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1891-05-31
WHITTIER HE CAN COME EAST.
Tho Sentiment of Nationality.

Nationality. whom it represents no wider
meaning than is generally applied to It IN the
peculiar phraseology literally used by sell
STYLED patriots is q subject essentially easy 10
define and easy TO grasp. Throughout tne
civilized globe patriots" cannonade US WIN
their fiery asseverations OF national oes-
TIMES" They seem eloquent. for they mar,
shall words that appeal to self-interest; And
the turgid sentimentalism OF polltics IS largely
EMPLOYED in the service Of racial selhshness
and craft For it is far easier 10 fashion the
moods of men in the direction OF natlonaI
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT however unjust, than IN the
way of aggregate good Civilization is still so
crude in its development that cIyllzed'
races have not yet advanced to the knowledge
that even to the individual, universal altru-
ism is of far more ultimate benefit than sec
tional egoism. Throughout the world we
have the sad spectacle of the open covert CON
fict of races. The paternal Sclav illustrates
the aspirations of his nearest KIN. lnsidlouSiy
drags under his sway the noble, simple
hearted Finn; subjugates the inofensive Mon
golian: Expresses the long suffering Jew;
HOUNDS the detested Turanian OF Turkey.
The TeutOn. again, hates and breads the
Sclay. and still more so the composite race
that covers France. The Frenchman. be he
Celt. or Norseman. or Latin, or an admlGture
of all is more than reciprocal IN his malevo-
lence toward the neighbor that degraded HIM
W.
10 an ELUSIVE degree, the Teutonic and sub
sdiary elements that to him constitute per
fdious Albion" Difference of color IN ITS two
extreme aspects has been main cause OF
misery and anxiety TO the United States Tor
generations and slikelyto lead TO more Ill the
future Not only, however, Is the dlherentla-
ton in family responsible for friction, but
also the members of the same Aryan stock
show here as elsewhere the ancestral disllkes.
Yankee and German and Irish and Italian,
although on the whole amalgamating IN har
mony under the benign influences of liberty
and education. often manifest slumberng
hatred eliminating occasionally, as recently
in New Orleans, IN dlscord ana blooosheu.
When centuries hence the assimilation OF the
various races will be complete, as necessarily
it will be, the spectacle Will prove curious
study for ethnologists and useful solvent OF
the problem of nationality" Seven millions
of negroes, two millions of Germans. two mil
lions of Irish, three-quarters OF a million OF
English, the same number Of Canadians. half
a million Scotch, hundred thousand Welsh,
quarter of million Indians and half
million from various sources, with thirteen
millions of natives of alien parentage. repre-
sented by four millions Irish, two millions
other British. five millions Germans, one mil
lion Scandinavians, half a million Latins and
nearly million besides OF others whose an
cestors in the previous generations
of curious amalgamation that the resultant
blending must necessarily be watched with
eyer-increasing interest. The whole may
combine in a happy and profitable homogen-
city, but the characteristic tendencies OF the
different races may also have in store some
potent forces of disintegration which are by
no means discernble at present In the
Dutch blood of New York, the Latin blood of
Louisiana, the English bloodof Virginia, there
is still family perceptble differentiation Of
ideas, but III all cases there is solid
equipoise of divergent Influences. There
is distinct line of demarcation between
North and South, too, in their respective
views of the fundamental laws of human
rights. Thus every race and every section OF
a race suffers from the bane of pernlclOus
nationality" And when we view, in civil
lied parts. these endless weavings of hatred
and ill-will, with their unlimited interactons
of ruinous causes and effects, and their dire
results in general upon the happiness of man
should 1t be? Why do not the leaders OF
thought grapple the question in earn
est. and point out forcibly and graph
caily the inevitable evils of the bigO-
try that generates the jealousies of races.
Racial hatred is the most prominent
vestige of that condition of sayagery from
which we are slowly evolving. Where are the
emancipators of civilization? They are few
and isolated, and generally ignored or de
spised. They are like those crying in the
wilderness; the underground of prejudices
stop their progress: the branches and bram-
bles hanging from the lofty pillars of author
itv interrupt the RAYS Of comfort that strive
to reach them from the regions of light; and
their distance from the shrines of humanity
render their voices faint or unheard-T.
Robertson Edwards in Westminster Review
for May.