The Rice belt journal. (Welsh, Calcasieu Parish, La.) 1900-19??, 1910-06-10
ROMANES LECTURE GIVEN
RY THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Event Postponed by Kings Death Attracts a
Large Audience at OxfOrd---Lord Curzon
Introduces the Distinguished American.

European nations are not as great as those
which separate the new" nations one
from another and the "old" nations one
from another. There are IN each case |
very real differences between the new and
the old natiOn-dfferenCeS both for good
and for evil; but in each case there is
the same ancestral history to reckon with,
the same type of civilization, with it's at
tendant benefits and shortcomings; and. |
after the pioneer stages are passed, the |
problems to be solved, in spite Of superb |
cidl differences, are in their essence the |
same; they are those that confront all |
civilized peoples, not those that confront |
peoples struggling from barbarism into |
civilization.
So, when we speak of the death" OF
tribe, nation or civilization, the term
may be used for either one or two totally
| different processes; the analogy with
what occurs in biological history being
| complete. Certain tribes Of savages the
| Tasmanians. for instance, and various lit
| tie clans of American Indians, have within
| the last century or two completely died
out; all Of the individuals have persisted,
leaving no descendants, and the blood has
| disappeared. Certain other tribes of
| Indians have as tribes disappeared or
are now disappearing; but their blood
| remains being absorbed into the veins of
the white intruders, or Of the black men
! introduced by these white intruders; so
that in reality they are merely being
transformed into something absolutely
different from what they were.
A like wide diversity in fact may be
covered in the statement that civiliza-
ton has died OUT
Phenomena That Puzzle.
In dealing, not with groups of human
beings in simple and primitive relations,
but with highly complex, highly special
lied, civilized, or semi-Civilized societies,
there Is need Of great caution in drawing
analogies with what has occurred In the
development of the animal world. Yet
even in these cases 1t is curious to SEE
how some of the phenomena in the
growth and disappearance Of these COM
pleX, artificial groups Of human beings
resemble what has happened in myrlads
of instances in the history Of life on this
planet.
Why do great artificial empires, whose
citizens are Knit by bond Of speech and
culture much more than by bond of
l blood, show periods of extraordinary
growth, and again Of sudden or lingering
decay? In some cases we can answer
: readily enough; in other cases We can
not as yet even guess what the proper
answer should be. If in any such case
1 the centrifugal forces overcome the cen
8 tripetal, the nation will Of course fly to
pieces, and the reason for its failure to
= become a dominant force Is patent tc
e every one, The minute that the spirit
d which finds it's healthy development IT
8 local self-government, and in the antidote
Al lo,1 Of nPntr4
e ton, develops into mere particularism
J. into inability to combine effectively fol
d achievement of common end, then 1t l:
e hopeless to expect great results. Polan(
g and certain republics of the western
t hemisphere are the standard examples o
d failure of this kind; and the United States
d would have ranked with them, ana IL
8. name would have become byword
re derision if the forces Of union had no
n triumphed in the civil war SO IN
d growth of soft luxury after 1t has reache
IS a certain point becomes national DANCE
k patent to all. Again, it needs but little o
If the vision of a seer to fOretell what mus
ID happen in any community if the averag
e, woman ceases to become the mother of
d family of healthy children, If the averag
y man loses the will and the power to wor
n IN TO old age and to fight whenever tn
S, need arises, If the homely, commonplace
re virtues die out If strength Of characte
n vanishes in graceful self-indulgence, II tn
u virile qualities atrophy, then the natio
Of has lost what no material prosperity ca
ne offset.
Oh Rut there are plenty Of other phenon
ne ena wholly or partially ineXplcable. Ii
ed easy to see why Rome trended downWar
IL when great slave-tilled farms spread owe
ne what had once been countryside
ne neasant proprietors, when greed and III!
ce ury and sensualty ate like acids into u
OF fiber of the upper classes, while the mas
st of the citizens grew to depend, not upC
Ill their own eXertiOns, but upon the std.
for their pleasures and their very llVei
hood But this does not explain why u
nt forward movement stopped at oiilere'
h. times, so far as different matters we
I'd concerned: at one time as regards liter
~, tTre at another time as regards archite
.Iv ture at another time as regards CT
~ / building. We cannot even guess why q
~ cnrinqs Of one kind Of energy DRIED
10 while there was yet no cessation or
Ie- other kind.
of Holland as an Example.
Take another and smaller instance. Tn
N of Holland. For period covering
u little more than the seventeenth centui
=, IJoIland. like some Oh lHe 1taioh ~
nc states at an earlier period, stood on t
vs. dangerous heights Of greatness beside n
ny lions so vastly her superior IN terrific
' ut and population as to make 1t lneVtat
ul- tbot sooner or later she must fall from |
er. eIorious and perilous eminence TO VIM
1ht Che had been raised by her own lndoml'
ny h1e soul Her fall came; II could
ace have been indefinitely postponed; out
ere came far quicker than it needed 10 con
Vi because of shortcomings on her part
leu which both Great Britain and the UNI,
MAJ states would be wise to pay heed. L
nat e,oI,ernmpnt was singularly ineffective
ich decentralization being such as otten
norr,it the separatist the particular
ans s,irit of the provinces to rob the cent
sls. authority of all efficiency. inns was
en- enough. But the fatal weakness was u
zen ca common in rich, peace-loving socleu
ose rhere men hate to think OF war as pos
ue- HE and try to justify their own reluctal
sh. 20 face II either by hgh-soundns mo
OF rIotitudes or else by a philosophy
ms sshort-sighted materialism. The Du
-lsi. were very wealthy. They grew 10
ent Tave that they could hire others TO
men their fighting for them on land anu
up sea, where they did their own ngh!i
an anu ond fought very well, they refused
inc time Of peace to make ready fleets SO
'leu 6cient as either to insure the Du
TO aeainst the peace being broken or
orm To give them the victory When
Oh came To be opulent and unarmed is
w, - - tba preSent at the aim