The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1898-08-17
THE LATIN RACE.


convention was a bright young man. of
| French descent, Mr.. Adolph Paradis, the
able son of an able father. He has re-
Gently written a letter to the St Paul
Globe. which we think deserves repro
! duction in our columns. We quote:
For some time past our newspapers have
peen commenting upon Latin degeneracy
IN addit- on to this certain Anglo-man:;A,
nave seized upon the Spanish war
as pretext to pour out the walls of their
wrath and venom against everything that is
Latin so far no member of that race has
de.sned to reply. Since President NICK n
ley is said to have made the statement that
liberty has been the dream OF the Iatns
Tor centuries, and when they attained re-
puoiics they ccnspred to overthrow them.
etc., etc now ask you in a spirit Of fair
ness to publish an answer to these gross
misrepresentation of the race of which the
writer is member.
The cry of Latin degeneracy is a worm
out. stereotyped expression It was heard
one hundred years ago, when the Prussians
subGued Holland, and the cause of the re-
punlc was lost, Joseph H., of Austria, ex-
canned: France has just fallen; l doubt
II she rises again" But France rose great
er than ever. That same cry was heard
again after the Franco-Prussian war, wheh
BISMARCK SAID: France will perish in
anarchy But France rose to be the fore
most nation in the world. The main cause
OF the prosperity OF France Is she no longer
mas an arlStOcracy to drain the life blood
OF the state. In England the aristecracv
ana ther imtators in this country, can b.,
seen lolng in sabaritic elegance upon the
cushloned seats Of their costly coaches
hominem.
Recent statistics show that the nercentapa
Oh FRENCH development during the :. ast
quarter OF century has been greater than
IN any other country in the world The
diacrity with which France paid the largest
war indemnity eXtant in history, astonished
the world. In France 100000 peonle own
land, while In England 10000 people own
an OF that country. France, according tn
Sir CHARLES Dixie. is the only military mower
tnat can pretend to cope with England on
the seas while she is second to mons an
.aho. r rance has taken more territory dur
ing the last quarter century than any other
power in the world This is an aston;shing
achievement for degenerate race.
AS Tor the role the Lat.ns have played in
me ueVelopment OF civilization, none but
the uniformed would seek to belittle them
Ihelr entire history has been a STRUGGLE for
Hoerty. In the beginning we see France IN
he1lting ancient civiliza ton and transo;ant
ing the fruits of her learning in other com.
tr1es; we see Charles Martel falling on Sar-
aeon, ktienne Marcel drafting the grantie
oroounance and attempting to build up the
CIVIC Liberties Of France; we see Descartes
ana Gal1leO safely conducting philosophy
ana science from the torpid writings Of tho
catholic and Protestant inquisitions on the
one hand and idealism on the other tins
fesculng the world from theory and i1nagi-
nation to the work of realism and truth.
we see the Huguenots CARRYING professions
hitherto unknown into other countries. we
see the Italians advocating the ~ doctrine
that the people should own the government
ana not the government the people and we
see them GlSSpnin q
renaissance. while France and Spain car
REQ that learning into the remotest corners
OF North and South America; we see the bit
ter struggle of the freethinkers for the, lib
erty OF conscience and the encyclopae dists
sounding the death knell to the theologco-
metaphysical system, thereby making the
great french revolution possibility which
shattered empires cast aside ancient sunar
stltlons, and knocked the pillars from under
twenty centuries Of despotisln and called
the world to freedom; we see Voltaire called
to grace the court Of Frederick the Great
and Giderot called to Russia by Catherine
H.; we see the sovereign hand of the first
consul shattering despotic empires and
wherever the eagles of Napoleon went were
carried with them the embers of republi-
canism, which were left smoulderiny in the
SOIL as standing menace to tyrants: we
see the French teaching the Americans the
theory of liberty and the Americans illus
trating that theory by putting it into prac-
the French physiocrats. and Darwin from
Lamarque we see that towering and con-
summate genius, August Comte, establish
ing his system of positive philosophy who
for the first time showed us the exact re-
lations the sciences have to one another
and thus gave us a purely empirical phil
osophy; we see the arms of the French
reSculng Italy from the tyranny of Austria
and finally we the establishment of the
third republic and the presentation to the
United States of the statue Of liberty
Now, for Spanish cruelty: England's rule
of Ireland ought to be sufficient answer to
silence this continuous prating by the An
glo-SaXon of Spanish cruelty. Witness her
treatment of the AcaGians sending a
mother north. father south, and the chill
dren in another direction; and her bar
barous treatment of American prisoners in
the revolutionary wars, who were thrown
In the bottom of ships, and left to smother
to death and die in their own filth She
forced opium upon China by the force of
arms, and thus corrupted the morals of mil
lions upon millions of people, and damned
their progeny. Witness her rewarding the
Jameson raiders-almOst an acknowledge
ment that she is a piratical government
The Latins have prospered without the
compliments of her jealous enemies and
these will continue to patrol the ramparts
of the citadel of liberty, guarding the
rights Of man.
With much of this we cordially agree:
but it must not be forgotten that the
French people are largely Gothic. The
name Of France is derived from a Ger
man tribe of Franks. The northern
province of France is called Normandy,
after the Mortimer who settled it. The
ancient Gauls were not black-haired.
but yellow-haired race, and are de-
scribed by Caesar as possessing the blue
eyes and large limbs of the people of
the North. The French are an amalgam
of races; the emigrations from the reg
ions Of snow intermingling with the
dark-haired stock from the shores of the
Mediterranean.
To call them Latin race seems to
us misnomer. The Romans CONQUERED
Gaul, but they did not materially change
the chronological constituents of the peo-
pie.
But Mr.. >Paradis is right The mixed
races of Southern Europe have contrib
uted very largely to the progress Of
mankind. In
Kills Himself Because Despondent.
Despondent because of failure to secure