The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-06-08

Frenchmen W to their base hankering for
bureaucratism and their lukewarm regard
for agriculture, manufactures and trade,
tho absurdity OF a Chamber OF Deputies
which includes a hundred ex~.bureaucrats
and nearly three hundred Journalists, at
torneys, advocates and doctors, whereas In
the British House Of Commons the great
majority arc agriculturists, manufacturers
and traders. We are told, finally, how 1t
comes to pass that the AnRlo.Saxons have
the rood fortune to be almost totally re-
f~ractory to collectivism, with which the ma
lions of the European continent arc threat
ened, and which Is the most retrograde OF
social organizations, the most destructive
Of individual activity and dignity. All OF
these things have been set forth Solidly
and lucidly by this Frenchman, together
with certain deductions no less true or
probable, and no less unpleasant for other
Frenchmen to read. .
What is there for Frenchmen to dot
Neither NJ. DEMoLINs nor NJ. JULES
LEMArTRE can sec any help for them. How
should they 20 about to gain tho virtues
that they lack, and which abound In the
~Anglo.SaxonH How should they develop
In themselves the energy, the power of
will, the habit of self-dependence, the
spirit of inltiative7 To develop these
qualities they would need, it is admitted,
the following things: In the first place,
parents, convinced that they owe their
children only an education, which, how.
ever, should be a virile one; In the second
place, young men thoroughly convinced
that they must depend upon themselves In
life; In the third place, young men firmly
resolved to seek in marriage a companion
and not a dowry. Another thing needed 10
a government which shall reduce to q
minimum the number Of It's functions and
its functionarles, and thus drive young
people into independent careers which
require individual, initiative n hard
work. In a word, France needs o state OF
things wherein the public functionary, the
politician, and the idler shall be less re-
spected than the farmer, the manufacturer,
and the merchant.
To como to details, NJ. JULES LEMAITRE,
for his part, would put an end TO the study
of dead languages In colleges and schoolsi
would suppress universities, the Polytech-
mic School. and all the higher educational
establishments supported by the State;
would suppress universal suffrage /; would
abolish ct least three-fourths Of the Office
holders {; would, in o word, n d almost
the whole of the administrative work 40
complished by the first revolution and the
first empire. This, however, would not
suffice. 1t would also be needful to sup
press the army appropriations, which arc
running France, and to put an n to the
CONSUMPTION which robS young Frenchmen
of three years of their life, and by no means
tends to develop in them q spirit Of initia-
tive. France would have to content her
self, a England does, with an arm Of
about 200, 900 men. Itwould be needful to
do away with the necessity of national
defence and the supposed moral obli-
cation Of "revenge." 1t would, at the
same time, be needful to render another
defeat impossible, for it is defeat which
has made Frenchmen weak, shamefaced,
and timid. Nor would ever all this
suffice; one would hav to change the
French soul. How is it possible to instil
will and energy where they do not exist,
and to transform a Latin or Celt into an
Anglo-Saxoni
One of the few consultations which NJ.
DEMoLINs and his commentators find is
the reflection that Germany, in spite of
some recent signs Of commercial extension,
Ia not much less sick thar France. The
wealth which it gained from France, the
confidence and the advantages Of all kinds
derived from victory, assure to Germany
momentary health, but M. DEMoLINs is
convinced that despotism. militarism,
bureaucratism and socialism will kill Ger
..on,x oJao u tho and IF In ap0naata6 hv
M. JULES LEMAITRE that a good plank Of
safety for Germany, France and other Con
tinental countries would be a defensive
league of all Latin, Germanic and Slavic
Europe against the voracious virtues Of
the Anglo-Saxon race. 1t Is, however, ad
mitted that for such a league the times art
not yet ripe.
The French ~decadence seems to be dis
tinguished from other examples of nationa
decay In this particular. that 1t is self-con
scious. 1t has no illusions. 1t is surpris
ing to observe among the Frenohmen whC
have noticed the book we have been con
siderlng, how many recognize, In all tt
extent and secret causes, the material ant
moral degeneration of France. If the self
consciousness of a nation reveals itself II
its higher Municipalities, never was al
unfortunate people more alive to It's owl
weaknesses and woes. 1t Is possible tina
In this recognition of facts may lie a chanc,
Of cure. M. DEMoLINs himself, although
pessimist, maintains that Frenchmen hav'
a clearer and more methodical mind thai
have the Anglo-Saxons. a fact which SHOULD
make them leaders in the work of drawing
the backward peoples of the East into tn
paths of civilization. 1t may also b
argued that, after all, France is the Con
t~inental nation which. from several point
of view, comes nearest to the Anglo-Saxol
type; the Frenchman certainly epproache
the Englishman more closely than does tn
Spaniard or the Italian, or even the Gel
man, who, In NJ. DEMoLINs's opinion, ha
got no further, in a political and socia
{ sense, than the age of LOUIS XIV.
|, The Change of Capital in China.
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