New-York tribune., 1910-06-08

apo clvilzauon or some later race which
seemingly destroyed them? We cannot say.
We do not know which of the widely diff
ferent stocks now speaking Aryan tongues
represents In physical characteristics the
ancient Aryan type nor where the type
originated. nor how or why II imposed It's
language on other types, nor how much or
how little mixture OF blood accompauied
the change Of tongue.
Period of Greatest Development.
The phenomena of national growth and
decay, both those which can and those /
which cannot be explained, have been De- |
culiarly in evidence during the four CEN
turtles that have gone by since the dis
coVery OF America and the rounding OF |
the Cape o. Good Hope These have been /
the four centuries of by far the most in
tense and constantly accelerating rapidity
of movement and development that the
world has yet seen. The movement has |
covered ali the fields of human activity |
II has witnessed an altogether unexampled |
spread Of civilized mankind over the world, |
as well as an altogether unexampled ad-
vance in mans dominion over nature; and |
this, together with literary and artistic /
activity TO be matched in but one previous |
epoch. This period of extension and de-
velopment has been that Of one race, the |
so-called white race. or, to speak more /
accurately. the group OF peoples living in |
Europe who undoubtedly have a certain
kinship of blood. who profess the Christian
religion and trace back their culture TO
Greece and Rome.
White Supremacy Recent
The memories of men are short and 1t |
is easy to forget how brief is this period Of
unquestioned supremacy of the so-called |
white race. 1t is hut a thing of Yesterday. |
During the thousand years which went be- !
fore the opening OF this era Of European /
supremacy the attitude Of Asia and Africa, |
OF Hun and Mongol Turk and Tartar. |
Arab and Moor had on the whole been
that of successful aggression against |
Europe More than century passed after
the voyages of Columbus before the mas !
terry in war began to pass from the Asiatic
10 the European. During that time Europe |
produced no generals or conquerors able TO
stand comparison with Selim and Solyman, !
Baber and Akbar. Then the European ad-
vance gathered momentum. until at the |!
present time peoples OF European blood
hold dominion over all America and Aus
tralia and the islands of the sea, over most |
of Africa and the major half OF Asia. |
Much OF this world conquest is merely po- /
ntical, and such a conquest is always |
likely in the long run TO vanish. But very |
much OF il represents not a merely political
but an ethnic conquest, the intrusive peo- |
pie having either exterminated or driven |
out the conquered peoples or else having |
imposed upon them its tongue law. culture /
and religion, together with a strain OF its
blood During this period substantially all
OF the world achievements worth remem-
bering are to be CT edited 70 the people OF
European descent. The first exception of
any consequence is the wonderful rise Of
Japan within the last generation-a phe-
nomenon unexampled in history. for both |
in blood and in culture the Japanese line
of ancestral descent is as remote as posi- |
ble from ours, and yet Japan, while hitherto |
keeping most Of what as strongest in her
ancient character and traditions, has as
simulated with curious completeness most
Of the characteristics that have given /
power and leadership to the West
The Rise of Spain and Portugal.
During this period OF intense and fever |
ish activity among the peoples of European
stock. first one and then another has taken
the lead. The movement began with spain
and Portugal. Their Towering time was as
brief as it was wonderful. The gorgeous
pages OF their annals are ilIumined by the
figures of warriors, explorers, statesmen,
poets and painters. Then their days OF
greatness ceased. Many partial explana-
tions can be given. but something remains
behind some hidden force for evil, some
hidden source of weakness upon which we
cannot lay our hands. Yet there are many |
signs that in the New World. after cen |
turies of arrested growth, the peoples OF
Spanish and Portuguese stock are entering
upon another era of development, and there |
are other signs that this is true also IN the /
Iberian peninsula Itself.
About the time that the first brilliant !
period Of the leadership of the Iberian peo- |
pies was drawing 10 close. at the other
end Of Europe in the land Of melancholy
steppe and melancholy forest the slaV
turned in mis- troubled sleep and stretched
out his hand TO grasp leadership and do
nfnion. Since then almost every nation of
Furope has at one time or another sought
a place in the movement of expansion; but
for the last three centuries the great phe-
uomenon Of mankind has been the growth
of the English speaking peoples and their
spread over the worlds waste spaces.
Rome and Britain Compared.
Comparison is often made between the
empire Of Britain and the empire Of Rome |
When Judged relatively to the effect on all |
modern cIVrlZdUiOn Itle empire VI ANJIliC - /
If course. the more important, simply be-
cause the nations Of Europe and their off |
shoots in other continents trace back their |
culture either TO the earlier Rome by the |
Tiber or the later Rome by the Bosporus. |
The empire Of Rome is the most stupen-
dous fact in lay history; no empire later |
in time can be compared with II. But |
this is merely another way of saying that /
-Ia nearer the source the more important I
becomes any DETECTION Of the streams |
current. Absolutely. comparing the two |
empires one with the other in point of !
actual achievement, and disregarding the |
immensely increased effect on other civili- |
zstions which inhered in the Older empire |
because il antedated the younger by |
connie Of thousand years, there is little 10 |
choose between them as regards the wide |
and Astounding interest and Importance OF
their careers.
Lack of Resistance 10 Rome.
In the world Of antiquity each great |
ennire rose when its predecessor had al |
ready crumbled. BY the time that Rome |
Iooued large over the horizon of history |
there were left for her to contend with !
only decaying civilizations and raw bar
barisns When she conquered Pyrrhus !
she strove against the strength Of but one |
Of the many fragments into which AIexan-
der's kingdom had fallen. When she con- |
hTa auV fne