The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-05
LONG WAR OF THE RACES.
n PRESEHT sTRUGGLE ONE EPT-
NODE IN TIE CONFLICY.
uisse tho Bawa or history Truion ana Latin
Have struEEied for supremacy The nrnais-
saucs ana DecIino or Latin nnnuOncr.

Prom the 81. Eoufs Gtobt. Democrat.
The present conflict with Spain will furnish
no little material for the historian OF the future.
Already IL is seen that VIC arc making history at
q rapid rate, and the date of the beginning OF
the Spanish war is now recognized as that OF n
new err. Whatever else may result from tho
conflict, one thing Is c~ertain-that the United
States will hereafter DO compelled to take q
moro active interest In the affairs OF the world
atlnrgc than II has over done before. Up to this
time we have rather withdrawn from pnrticipa-
ton in the politics Of other nations. We have
concentrated on our own affairs that attention
which in several other countries Is bestowed
upon international matters. mo entnngling
alliance" has been our motto. and, while we
hRvc steadily upheld the right OF the United
States to prevent the extension Of the European
nystcm on this side tho Atlantic, we have been
consistent, in that VIC have refraincd from med
ding with the Affairs OF Europe. In other
words, we have minded our own business. and
intimated to other nations that they should do
the same.
1t is plainly evident that this policy Is now a
thing of the past. We shall be compelled. by
sheer force Of circumstances, to take n wider
interest in the worlds affairs than we have ever
done. The necessity of protecting our COM
mcrco on the Pacific compelled us to attack the
Philippine Islands, and now they are practically
within our possession. An equal necessity has
Obliged us to attack Porto Rico, and wo shall
be forced to hold all that we have acquired in
both tha Atlantic and the Pacific until the end
OF the war. and possibly longer. The possession
OF the Philippines will neccssitate our taking q
direct interest in the Eastern question:. for
whatever the destiny OF these islands, they will
not go hack to Spain. and II retained by us we
shall naturally feel an interest in our neighbors,
and will he compelled in self-defenCc to enter
the conferences of the European States on the
future of China and tho eastern shores of Asia.
The time is probably not far distant when there
will be q seventh representative at the council
board Of tho powers, when tho Minister from
the United States Will take part In thDir DELHI
~erations and his voice will be ms. authoritative
Us that Of any beribboned and gold-braidcd
nobleman who represents n European sovereign.
Leaving out Of consideration the particular
phases OF the subject which most concern our
own country, the war between the tn ! nit 6 sites he's
tween the Gormanic and the Latin races. Al CON
test which has been going on for more than
twenty centuries. a contest in which wars and
battle. strife for III and business, efforts
to found and maintain colonies, political strug-
Almost from the time authentic history began
the Teuton and tn. Latin have been engaged in
q struRRle for supremacy, too frequently taking
tho form of war. 1t is Il struggle which was
forced upon both by their proximity in Europe.
. struRgle which neither Stunned. and which,
after every round, found the Teuton a little
stronger. the Latin II little weaker.
From the northern centre of Europe swnrns of
nntions have issued In every direction to people
new quarters Of the earth. to conquer territory
which the weakened hands OF II degraded civil
tzation could not hold; TO seek other lands and
thcro plant tine seeds OF future nations. Among
the earliest records OF the Latin race are stories
Of invasions by German hosts. of tho terror OF
German arms, for in the army of Brennus the
majority were Germans and the tide OF German
z Invasion rolled on into Grcece. and even into
Asia Minor, for the Galatia to whose church
90 called because Of me Gauls, VINO settled in
the province and even to this day remain dis
tinct from the Asiatic populations by whom
they are surrounded.
Even in the time OF Julius Cgsar there was a
considerable admixturc OF the Teutonic element
among the ncople of Gaul: indeed; a third part of
Ctesar's province was inhabited by men who in
all essential particulars were Teulons. The pas
snGc of the Rhine and the invasion Of Germany
by the great commander were the first agrees
sive steps Rome took against the Teutonic hosts
Sontcnted Itself With resisting GormSn INVASION.
Roman statesmen long before the day Of Teci,
men Of the north rs y menace TO the State,
and the treatise of Tacitus seems to have been
S.TIdM c,, With a Of TyhIS N ki to d ipfD %nMns v his
tho Rom ms on, their guard against enc;
miduble. Caesar determined to remove the
menace to the State by conQuerIng the
succeeded in obtaining more than nominal con.
troll Of tho nations beyond the Rhine. and the
afrer. put an end forever to the attempts or the
Romans to conquer the blond warriors OF the
herman forests. a century lUter all Thought OF
making any attempt, at the conquest of Ger.
many, was abandoned. and Trajan md Probus
built long walls. high and strong, with forts Mt
frequent intervals, and manned them with good
mon and true to keep out the German hosts.
Even strong walls arc no defence to a degenerate
State; the Germans took the aggressive, and
what are called the barbarian invusiOns OF Rome
we're really the s%warming Of the German tribes,
become too numerous for their native soil, over
into territory the men of which were too weak
TO hold their own.
1t is customary among historians, philoso.
piers and rellgl0nlStS 10 DeHal the downfall of
the Roman empire as one of the great catasiro-
phes OF history, put the fact Is overlooked that
physically vile beyond description; degenerate,
weak or BODY. with corresponding. decay Of in.
tollect, they could not compare either in mill
tary strength or social virtue with the sturdy,
hardy races of the north, the empire fell be.
cause IL did not deserve to live, and in its stead
arose "a group of nations. the men of which were
rs far superior 20 the Romans as the latter had
Asia Minor and Egypt. Tho Guths. the Visl.
RothS. the AlemHnni. Tho Ostrogoths. the suevi.
Teutonio or OF Teutonic origin. and thus
cay the political ascendency Of the TeS.
ton was established from the MediIer.
the AnGlea. SaHons and Jutes, who were des.
tined TO found Two empires which seem even
yet only, IN their youth; one, the empire OF
Great Britain, the other its sister country, the
empire OF the United States. The Teutonic con,
quest OF the north was permanent, that of the
south was temporary, for in the course of Il few
generations tho native populations of Spain,
France and Italy reRsserted themselves, not in
military but In a social way; The intermar,
risgos OF the conquerors with the people practi
cally reducei the dominant race TO the level OF
the people IL governed and thorough amalgama
tion the TeutOnic element almost disappeared.
It's influence. however, was felt in a marked
Gegreo in the political affairs of central and
southern Europe. for what Is known in history
as the Holy Roman empire was n Teulonit
empire, whose head was most commonly n Tcu
ton. whose mobiles were Teutons, and the con
tests OF tho empire with France and Spain, dis
guiso them by whatsoever name VIC please, vert
really contests OF the Teutonic element with tn,
Latin. Emperor and noble were fighting tn,
battle OF Teuton versus Latin, often upon locu
issues, often losing sight OF the difference If
race. generally ignorant OF the great issue which
lowered above the petty occasions of strife, thu
war was necessarily wRged. Through the MAJ,
ot medieyel history, which. without some guild
ing thread, Is an insoluble mystery, may b
traced the Rntagonism of the two races, and
though frequently lost to the view OF the casuN
observer. II 10 never absent.
Not on the tented field alone, nor only In tn,
shock OF arms. did Teuton strive with Latin, foI
the inherited aversion, the one for the other
made Itself apparent even in matters of religion
and philosophy. The German Reformation Il
commonly characterized as q religious move